Chilomycterus antennatus

Chilomycterus antennatus, commonly known as the Bridled burrfish, is a large burrfish. They’re quite variable in colour depending on genetics as well as mood. Their base colour can range from almost white to red to brown. Sometimes they show some dark patches but all of them show small black spots all the way into their eyes.

Burrfishes are closely related to porcupinefishes but differ from them since they can’t lay down their spines. They are very intelligent fish just like pufferfishes and will quickly learn to recognize you and your behaviour. Their intelligence and behaviour make you soon treat these animals more like a dog than a fish. Combined with the unusual shape, they make up a showpiece in every tank!

In nature they like to hide in seagrass beds close to coral reefs during the day. In an aquarium they often become they active quite soon.

Remember they aren’t reef safe though! They feed on almost anything they can catch, like crab, molluscs, worms, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates, all kinds of algae from coralline to fleshy and corals (mostly at night, but in an aquarium they soon learn to eat during the day). It can be aggressive towards other fish, so make sure you pick the other fishes with care! Because their teeth will grow their entire life, they need to eat hard/shelled food constantly to keep them from growing too large. Be sure to offer foods like crab, whole shrimp and snails on a regular basis.