User:Sriracha0414/Spotted boxfish

Comments by A Faucci (Apr 13):


 * Great work overall!
 * See my suggestions for deletions ( strikethrough ) or additions (underlined)
 * great job on integrating the current information to your article.
 * Great references. Make sure that you use the "cite function above to cite your references in the text. Each sentence should be linked in that way to at least one of your references listed below. Reach out if you need help or watch some of the help videos on how to do that properly.
 * I would reorganize your subsection to make them more similar to other species: start with Description or Anatomy (combine the 2 sections), then Distribution, then Habitat, then Reproduction.
 * Make sure your information makes sense. you write that thei are found in the Indian and Pacific oceans but then you write "They’re mainly along the coast of Mexico, found in clear lagoons. ". I would delete that sentence. Look for other inconsistencies like that.
 * The photo on Wikipedia is of a male. See if you can find an image online in Wikiedia Commons or via a google search that has no copyright, but rather a CC license. If you share that with me i will add it to the article.
 * Make sure to read your text out loud one more time to catch any English or flow issuesCorl0081 (28078144356).jpg

The Spotted Boxfish, Ostracion meleagris
The spotted or white-spotted boxfish (Ostracion meleagris), is a species of boxfish found in the Indian and Pacific coral reefs, between the surface and 30 m depth. The species is also known as the blue boxfish and/or the black boxfish. The reason why they have a variety of different names is because of the sexual dimorphism.

Description & Anatomy
This species grows to a length of 25 centimetres (9.8 in) in length. The Spotted Boxfish has an oblong thick body that are enclosed in a bony box formed by thickened, joined, enlarged, and hexagonal scale plates. Males and females differ in color: males are blackish on the back with white spots, and have bluish sides with bright yellowish bands and spots. Females and juveniles are dark brown to blackish with white spots. Juveniles with male patterns or colors are never seen or has never been spotted before, so either the immature, juvenile males are born with the female colors or all the young juveniles are born as a female, but change their sex as they grow up or later on in their life. As with other species of boxfish, the spotted boxfish's bony carapace gives it a distinctly angular appearance; it has been described as resembling an ottoman.

Their diet consists of sponges, worms, tunicates as well as other small invertebrates.

Their box has openings for the mouth, eyes, gill slits, fins, and tail base. Their backs are slightly rounded. They have a pair of longitudinal ridges on their lower flanks, a flat bottom, and no spines. Their small mouth opens at the front with fleshy lips and has 15 mid-sized teeth on each jaw. Their gill openings are short and form oblique slits in front of their pectoral base. Their anal and dorsal fins are at the rear; their caudal fin is rounded; their dorsal fin has no spines; and, they do not have pelvic fins.

The Spotted Boxfish make noises and sounds during the mating process. For example, when mating, the male or female, sometimes both, make a low pitched humming sound that lasts for about 6 seconds. Another example is after the mating process, when another male comes to “spawn” with the female or to disrupt the mating process, the two males fight each other, sometimes creating an audible thump sound & they even produce a short buzzing sound.

They are protected by a toxic slime that can kill other fish, thus making them unsuitable for use in aquariums.

Distribution
This species can be found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, like in the waters of Hawai’i and Mexico. It is found on reefs at depths of from 1 to 30 metres (3.3 to 98.4 ft).

Habitat
They can be found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. They can also be found in seaward and protected reefs. That’s just where the adults reside most of the time, whilst the juveniles often find shelter between the long spines of the tropical sea urchins anchored to the rocks.

Reproduction
According to Phillip Lobel, who’s an Ichthyologist (a person that studies fish), found out that they mate during the afternoon and the early evening hours. Let’s just say that the Spotted Boxfish species usually travel in a group, consisting of one male and several females, and the females are the male’s “property”. They start the mating process slowly by the male nudging & circling one female. When she responds, they swim side-by-side while rising 6 ft or more from the bottom. The male leads the female to that point. Staying in that side-by-side formation with their tails together & heads slightly apart from one another, they both release their gametes (a mature haploid male or female germ cell which is able to unite with another of the opposite sex in sexual reproduction) and swim back to the bottom again together. Unfortunately, when that process is done and they both are with each other at the bottom again, it calls males to the female Boxfish to disrupt the process or calls them to mate with her instead, & that’s why fights are not uncommon between male Spotted Boxfishes.