Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis
Fish caught from coastal waters off Rivera Beach, Florida, February 2024. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of James Lafontaine, Long Island, New York.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Big Pine Key, Florida, July 2021. Length: 16 cm (6.3 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Key, Florida, April 2018. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Marc Eberlein, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Long Key, Florida, April 2018. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Josh Leisen (joshadventures.com), Gaylord, Michigan.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Islamorada, Florida, December 2016. Length: 18 cm (7.1 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quadricornis. Fish caught off the Anglin’s Fishing Pier, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, February 2015. Length: 20 cm (7.9 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quadricornis. Fish caught off the Anglin’s Fishing Pier, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida, March 2015. Length: 19 cm (7.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quandricornis. Fish caught from coastal waters off Key West, Florida, August 2014. Length: 28 cm (11 inches). Photograph courtesy of Dean Kimberly, Atlanta, Georgia.
The Scrawled Cowfish, Acanthostracion quadricornis, is a member of the Boxfish or Ostraciidae Family, and is known in Mexico as torito cornudo. Globally, there are four species in the genus Acanthostracion, of which two are found in Mexican waters, both in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Scrawled Cowfish is a very colorful subtropical fish that has a deep body that is covered with hexagonally-shaped plates fused together to form a shell or true carapace. They have an overall gray-brown to yellow-green coloration with numerous dark to bright blue irregular bars and spots. They also have dark spots and blotches on their body and 3 or 4 parallel blue stripes on each cheek. Their head has a small terminal mouth with fleshy lips and less than 15 conical teeth on each jaw. They have a pair of spines on their head that project in front of the eyes and a pair on the rear corner of their carapace. Their anal has 10 rays; their caudal fin is rounded; and, their dorsal fin has 10 rays. They do not have a dorsal fin spines or pelvic fins. They have 13 to 17 gill rakers.
The Scrawled Cowfish is found in shallow water within grass beds and coral reef areas at depths up to 79 m (260 feet). They reach a maximum of 55 cm (22 inches) in length, but are normally in the 20 cm (7.9 inches) to 38 cm (15 inches) range. They consume sessile invertebrates such as anemones, crabs, crustaceans, gorgonians, sponges, tunicates, and marine vegetation. In turn they are fairly immune to predation by larger fish due to their protective external shell. They can also remain motionless for long periods of time relying on camouflage for defense. They are slow swimmers and only able to generate propulsion via their anal, dorsal, and pectoral fins. They reproduce via pelagic eggs and pelagic larvae. The Scrawled Cowfish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Scrawled Cowfish is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Caribbean.
The Scrawled Cowfish is most likely confused with the Honeycomb Cowfish, Acanthostracion polygonius (chain-linked pattern on sides).
From a conservation perspective the Scrawled Cowfish is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations. They are an excellent food fish and marketed fresh, however, they are known to contain ostracitoxin and ciguatoxin. They are caught primarily by traps and seine nets. They are also a component of the aquarium trade as they are very colorful fish.