Spotted, White-spotted, Boxfish
The spotted or white-spotted boxfish (Ostracion meleagris), is a species of boxfish found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is found on reefs at depths of from 1 to 30 metres (3.3 to 98.4 feet). This species grows to a length of 25 centimetres (9.8 inches). Males and females differ in colour: 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. 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.
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.
Phillip Lobel, an ichthyologist, found out that they mate during the afternoon and the early evening hours. The Spotted Boxfish species usually travel in a group, consisting of one male and several females. They start the mating process by the male nudging and 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, and that’s why fights are not uncommon between male Spotted Boxfishes.
