Boxfish LACTORIA CORNUDA

This small yellow fish belongs to the species LACTORIA CORNUDA, easily recognised by its unusual shape: a rigid body covered in hexagonal plates and two small forward-pointing horns, discreet but visible here. This defensive morphology has earned it the nickname longhorn cowfish. It lives in the warm waters of the Indo-Pacific, often near coral reefs.

Among the OSTRACIIDAE, the boxfish family, this species is one of the most distinctive. Despite its armour-like body, its vivid colour and oddly expressive gaze give it a strangely sympathetic look… at least when viewed through the wire display cage.
This naturalised specimen has been recoloured to restore the vivid tones typical of the living animal, which fade quickly after death.
A natural curiosity specimen, mounted as a display object in a black metal cage.