STRIPED BURRFISH
Among the most favorite fish that we sometimes see during summertime Tybee Beach Ecology
Trips are baby Striped Burrfish. While young and small, they are cute and even funny looking.
But as they grow older and bigger, they develop sharp spines all over their body and make you
realize why they are named a “burr” fish.
Striped Burrfish are a type of spiny puffer fish, and they have the ability to swallow enough
seawater (or air if they are out of the water) to inflate their entire body so much that it becomes
practically spherical. This behavior is done as a defense mechanism to help discourage being
eaten. Puffers can take in enough water or air that their body becomes rigid due to the internal
pressure. Of course this shape and rigidness makes swimming less efficient, but Puffers aren’t
very strong or fast swimmers anyway due to lots of fused bones internally. As a result, Puffers
tend to rely mostly on their fins and tail fin for swimming, so it seems like they are just paddling
rather than swimming like most fish.
Since they aren’t fast swimmers, puffers are not going to be able to chase down fast
moving animals such as other fish for food. As a result, puffers generally rely on slower
moving invertebrate animals for their meals, but many of these slower invertebrates have hard
exoskeletons for their own protection. In turn, puffers have a small mouth with fused teeth that
form sharp, strong, parrot-beak-like teeth that can bite into crabs, urchins and other slow moving
invertebrates covered with hard exoskeletons.
Many puffers, including the Striped Burrfish, have poisonous skin that helps prevent being
eaten. But for me, the most interesting characteristic of this species is the development of its
network of sharp spines all around its body. When a Striped Burrfish is small and young, this
skeletal system hasn’t yet formed, so the babies that we sometimes see on our beach ecology
trips look like green marbles when they are inflated, or almost like tiny legless frogs when
22 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JUNE 2018
deflated. So they are cute and funny looking. But as they grow older and larger, the internal bone
system develops, and they produce a cage-like system of bones fused together that results in a
rigid framework surrounding the body. From this boney framework just underneath the skin, the
sharp, thorn-like spines stick outward. And they are sharp! For me, it’s like trying to hold onto a
giant sand spur when you have a Striped Burrfish lying on your hand.
Fishermen will sometimes catch large Striped Burrfish that are about the size of your fist. But
you will sometimes also find dead, dried-out individuals washed up along the high tide line when
you are out beachcombing. That is where I found all these in the photos. You never know what
you might see on Tybee’s beach
Dr. Joe Richardson (Ph.D. Marine Sciences) is a retired marine science professor with 40 years
of research and teaching experience along GA, the southeastern coast and Bahamas. Besides
research, he conducts Tybee Beach Ecology Trips (www.TybeeBeachEcology.com) and frequently
posts pictures of their findings on his Tybee Beach Ecology Trips Facebook page.
Beach Walks
with Dr. Joe
By Dr. Joe Richardson
/(www.TybeeBeachEcology.com)