Balloonfish
Diodon holocanthus
- Usual depth4–52 m
- Water temperature15–29 °C
- Best monthsMarch, April, and July
- How commonCommon
Photo credit: (c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Dan Schofield · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The long-spine porcupinefish, also known as the balloonfish, freckled porcupinefish, porcupine puffer, and porcupine pufferfish, is a species of marine fish in the family Diodontidae.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Long-spine porcupinefish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 539 records
- February: 593 records
- March: 679 records
- April: 875 records
- May: 662 records
- June: 609 records
- July: 673 records
- August: 667 records
- September: 537 records
- October: 498 records
- November: 468 records
- December: 501 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 4–52 m · Deepest record: 450 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 15–29 °C
Photos
(c) Matteo Cassella, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist 
(c) mostbittern, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) David Umanzor, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Balloonfish, Long-spine porcupinefish, Ajargo, Ballonfish, balloonfish, Balloon Porcupinefish, Baloonfish, Baloon pufferfish, Bloched Porcupine Fish, Blotched Porcupine, Brown Porcupine Fish, Fine-spotted Porcupine-fish, Fine-spotted Porcupinefish, Freckled Porcupine-fish, Freckled Porcupinefish, hairy porcupinefish, Hedgehog Fish, Long-spined Porcupine-fish, Longspined Porcupinefish, Long-spined Porcupine Fish, long-spine porcupinefish, Longspine Porcupinefish, Long-spine porcupinefish, Longspined porcupinefish, Mottled porcupinefish, Porcupine, Porcupine-fish, Porcupinefish, Porcupine Puffer, Porcupine Pufferfish, Spiny Balloonfish, Spiny Porcupinefish, Spiny Puffer, Spiny Pufferfish
Names in 8 more languages
- German
- Braunflecken-Igelfisch, Igelfisch
- Spanish
- Guanábana, Pejerizo, Pejerizo Balón, Pez Eriso, pez erizo, Pez erizo apache, Pez Erizo Balón, pez erizo mapache, Pez guanábana, Puercoespín Balón, Puercoespín Pintado, Tamborillo, Tamboril Negro
- Filipino
- Boteteng laot, Botiting laot, Buktit, Butete, Buteteng laot, Ganutan
- French
- Petit porc-épic, Petit porc-épic, Porc-épine ballon, Porc-épic ballon, Poisson-hérisson tacheté, Poisson porc-épic à taches, Porc-épic Ballon, Porc-épine Ballon, Souffleur à épines
- Japanese
- Harisembon, Hari-senbon, Harisenbon, ハリセンボン
- Korean
- 가시복, Ka-shi-pok
- Thai
- ปลาปักเป้าหนามทุเรียนหนามยาว
- Simplified Chinese
- 九斑刺魨, 六斑二齒魨, 六斑刺魨, 六斑刺鲀, 刺規, 氣球魚, 氣瓜仔
Other scientific names: Atopomycterus bocagei, Diodon holacanthus, Diodon maculifer, Diodon multimaculatus, Diodon novemaculatus, Diodon novemmaculatus, Diodon paraholocanthus, Diodon pilosus, Diodon quadrimaculatus, Diodon sexmaculatus, Paradiodon quadrimaculatus, Trichodiodon pilosus
Similar species
PorcupinefishDiodon hystrix
Black-blotched porcupinefishDiodon liturosus
Birdbeak burrfishCyclichthys orbicularis
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 3,658 open-data records from 1758 to 2024.
- Species data updated October 26, 2026.
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