Skip to main content

Toxin in trunkfish

Bony Fishes: Osteichthyes, Boxfishes: Ostraciidae, Fishes, Marine Life, baby, copyrighted, immature, juvenile, macro, marine, ocean, poisonous, portrait, smooth trunkfish: lactophrys triqueter, toxin, underwater, underwater photo, young

This unique looking fish is a juvenile smooth trunkfish. There are 33 species of boxfishes known throughout the world. The unique body of the trunkfish is encased in a bony carapace. If stressed, trunkfish secrete a fish toxin through their skin called ostracitoxin. This poison is capable of killing any trunkfish predator.