Thornback cowfish

About this species

The thornback cowfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Ostraciidae, the boxfishes. This species is found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Bass Islands. It can grow to a maximum length of 23 cm (9 in). It is an uncommon fish that feeds on small invertebrates that it picks up off the sea bed.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Thornback cowfish”, 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: 109 records
February: 90 records
March: 84 records
April: 111 records
May: 106 records
June: 70 records
July: 98 records
August: 104 records
September: 78 records
October: 117 records
November: 120 records
December: 108 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 13–113 m · Deepest record: 290 m

0–10 m: 6 records
10–20 m: 15 records
20–30 m: 10 records
30–40 m: 1 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 9 records
60–70 m: 15 records
70–80 m: 6 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 8 records
100–110 m: 12 records
110+ m: 12 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 18–29 °C

18–20 °C: 2 records
20–22 °C: 44 records
22–24 °C: 20 records
24–26 °C: 74 records
26–28 °C: 37 records
28–30 °C: 6 records

Photos

(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Vsevolod Rudyi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) amantedarmanin, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Maude, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Thornback cowfish, Backspine Cowfish, Cofferfish, shortspined cowfish, Spiny-backed Cow-fish, Thornback Boxfish, Thornback Cow, thornback cowfish, Thornback Cowfish, Thorny-back Cow-fish, Thorny-back Cowfish

Names in 6 more languages

German: Dornrücken-Kofferfisch, Rückendorn-Kofferfisch
Spanish: Pez vaca espinoso
French: Poisson-vache à épine dorsale
Japanese: Shima-umisuzume, Shimaumisuzume, シマウミスズメ
Korean: 줄무늬뿔복
Simplified Chinese: 海牛港, 福氏角箱魨, 箱河魨, 花牛角

Other scientific names: Lactoria fuscomaculata, Lactoria galeodon, Lactoria pentacanthus, Ostracion fornasini, Ostracion pentacanthus

Similar species

Longhorn cowfish
Lactoria cornuta
Roundbelly cowfish
Lactoria diaphana
Spotted boxfish
Ostracion meleagris
Scrawled cowfish
Acanthostracion quadricornis
Black-spotted Boxfish
Ostracion cubicum
Shortnose boxfish
Ostracion nasus

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).
453 open-data records from 1846 to 2017.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.