The Porcupine fish is just what it sounds like, named for its spine covered skin.

As well as being found in New Zealand waters, the porcupine fish can also be found in oceans throughout the world.

Adults are generally found swimming inshore around areas that offer shelter, such as caves, wrecks, reefs, and ledges. Juveniles are pelagic until reaching 8" or 20cm in length. They are also a nocturnal and solitary creature.

The porcupine fish range in size from around 3" or 80cm with some of the larger species reaching up to around 18" or 45cm.

This small brown spotted fish swims around deflated and is rather elongated in shape, only when the fish is threatened that it inflates its body and looks rather like a spiky balloon. The spines of the porcupine fish only stick out when the fish is inflated, at all other times the spines lay flat against the body.

The porcupine fish do not have a special sac in the internal body in which to fill with water or air when inflating their bodies. Instead, these amazing fish take lots of tiny gulps of water into their stomach until the body is fully inflated.

Most species of porcupine fish are nocturnal, choosing to feed at night when their favorite food is active.

When feeding the fish moves stealthily along the bottom searching for their favorite food which are mollusks. The porcupine fish will move its body over a small area of sand and spurt tiny jets of water to uncover its prey.

The porcupine fish have large teeth that look much like a parrots beak. These parrot like teeth and crushing plates on the roof of the mouth are used to crush hard bodied food such as molluscs and sea urchins.

I have noted that the fish that I have encounterd, being mainly around Cape Karikari in the north east of the North Island, have been very poor swimmers and easily caught.