{"id":1839,"date":"2023-01-11T14:06:01","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T14:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2023-01-11T14:11:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T14:11:16","slug":"boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin."},"content":{"rendered":"

The mystery of how the clumsy yellow boxfish moves may have been solved by studying its tail fin.
\nThe boxfish, with its lazy appearance and its bizarre square shape, is certainly not the most threatening among the inhabitants of the sea. But in coral reefs around the world it is not difficult to come across these curious creatures, as they whiz through confined spaces and hunt for shrimp among the rocks. The combination of their fitness and swimming style is something that has aroused a lot of curiosity among scientists.\"\"
\nBeing covered with bony plates, the boxfish swims with difficulty, while compensating extensively with its tail fin,
\nin 2015, a group of researchers published a study suggesting that these shells make the bodies of some boxfish species inherently unstable in water; on the contrary, other studies valued this aspect, arguing that these bone elements gave stability to the movements of the animal. In fact, the fins not only push and allow the fish to direct itself, but stabilize it. In particular, the caudal fin is fundamental in the modulation of horizontal movements.<\/p>\n

Researchers have found that without a tail fin, boxfish would easily fall prey to sea currents, literally being thrown left and right all the time. By opening, closing and twirling its tail fin, the boxfish can control the unstable system that is its body, leaning in certain curves and correcting its trajectory, depending on where it wants to go.<\/p>\n

Are boxfish poisonous?<\/h5>\n

Yes, they are poisonous but they can\u2019t kill humans like their relative pufferfish. Pufferfish and boxfish are relatives in terms of appearance and habits. But there\u2019s a huge difference in both fish, pufferfish contain a poison that can kill humans within hours or minutes.<\/p>\n

On the other hand when boxfish get captured or stressed they secrete a toxic chemical through their skin which can act as a defense mechanism. Boxfish have this intriguing method of defense against predators, such as sharks and other big fishes.<\/p>\n

They secrete deadly toxins, called ostracitoxin<\/strong>, also known as pahutoxin<\/strong>, a type of chemical compound known as a \u201csurfactant.\u201d It is the main toxin in their mucus layer.Three incredible curiosities about the puffer fish<\/a><\/p>\n

Curiosity about their yellow color<\/b><\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s called the \u201cyellow\u201d boxfish, this denizen of warm seas doesn\u2019t stay bright yellow with rich black spots. As it ages, the spots fade and the color becomes far more muted \u2013 more a bluey-gray with yellow patches. The adults have lots of small black spots on the tail but those on the body become less distinct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mystery of how the clumsy yellow boxfish moves may have been solved by studying its tail fin. The boxfish,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[63,55,188,56,49,53],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecology","tag-coral-point-diving","tag-course-director","tag-ecology","tag-guaraguao","tag-padi","tag-wreck-diving"],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nBoxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mystery of how the clumsy yellow boxfish moves may have been solved by studying its tail fin. The boxfish,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elena Franzetti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elena Franzetti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elena Franzetti\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3\"},\"headline\":\"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin.\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"coral point diving\",\"Course Director\",\"ecology\",\"guaraguao\",\"padi\",\"wreck diving\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ecology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\",\"name\":\"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg\",\"width\":1800,\"height\":1800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3\",\"name\":\"Elena Franzetti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a279c0ca4bbb2ccdad20607c432d82eeb50e1e481c4091340417c8b938921a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a279c0ca4bbb2ccdad20607c432d82eeb50e1e481c4091340417c8b938921a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elena Franzetti\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/author\/elena\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -","og_description":"The mystery of how the clumsy yellow boxfish moves may have been solved by studying its tail fin. The boxfish,","og_url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/","article_published_time":"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1800,"height":1800,"url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elena Franzetti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elena Franzetti","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/"},"author":{"name":"Elena Franzetti","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3"},"headline":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin.","datePublished":"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/"},"wordCount":439,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg","keywords":["coral point diving","Course Director","ecology","guaraguao","padi","wreck diving"],"articleSection":["Ecology"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/","url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/","name":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin. -","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-11T14:06:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-11T14:11:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/box-fish-2.jpg","width":1800,"height":1800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/11\/boxfish-and-the-importance-of-its-tail-fin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Boxfish and the importance of its tail fin."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/","name":"","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c7cd2a206c0fc3fac031fb8e11562c3","name":"Elena Franzetti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a279c0ca4bbb2ccdad20607c432d82eeb50e1e481c4091340417c8b938921a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/42a279c0ca4bbb2ccdad20607c432d82eeb50e1e481c4091340417c8b938921a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elena Franzetti"},"url":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/author\/elena\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1862,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coralpointdiving.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}