Another of the fun and quirky animals that Georg Heinrich Borowski (1746-1801) included in his multi-volume natural history. The title was crazy long but roughly translated was “a natural history of the animal kingdom’s strangest and sweetest.” Maybe there should be another description, animals that look spooky enough for Halloween.
Whatever we might call him, this is a spotted porcupinefish drawing. The spot-fin porcupinefish or Diodon Hystrix is also called the black-spotted porcupinefish or porcupinefish. As fierce-looking as this fellow already looks, knowing they can grow as long as a yard stick (though they generally average less than half that) leaves me hoping I never encounter one in the wild. If one were to seek them out, they like tropical and subtropical waters, including the Mediterranean Sea.
If this spotted porcupinefish drawing is a bit too fierce-looking for you; no worries. You might want to check out the sweeter version that shows the fish in a normal state and with spines extended – porcupine fish drawing.
This spotted porcupinefish drawing shows their bulging eyes and how they rarely close their mouths. They have dark spots on their fins and smooth skin. They look a big like a pudgy dolphin when calm. But, when they are threatened; they swallow water, get much bigger and raise their spines. And, they also produce a neurotoxin.
This public domain spotted porcupinefish drawing is a bit more green than these fish are in the wild. But, I think it makes it much more fun that way. Hopefully, he’ll make a great addition to your next project.
Even better than knowing this is truly a public domain fish drawing, is knowing the image below is not the largest size you’ll find here on Reusable Art. The full-sized version is 1576×2577 pixels and available by clicking on the fish you see below.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
