Porcupine puffer (thousand needles)

Japanese: ハリセンボン(針千本) - ハリセンボン（英語表記）porcupine puffer

Commonly known as the Harifugu, this marine fish belongs to the Tetraodontiformes and Porcupinefish family (illustration). It is found in a wide range of areas from the middle of Honshu southward to temperate and tropical regions around the world. Its body is round, and the two teeth on each of the upper and lower jaws are not fused in the middle. Almost the entire surface of the body is covered with long, strong, movable spines that are modified scales. It is usually lying down, but when it responds to a stimulus by inflating its abdomen, it stands upright all at once, and its entire body becomes chestnut-shaped. The name of this fish comes from this. Total length 40 cm. It lives near shallow reefs, and spawns from April to August in areas from the Ryukyu Islands to Taiwan and the Philippines, and the young fish reach the coast of Japan on the Kuroshio Current and the Tsushima Warm Current.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

俗にハリフグともいう。フグ目ハリセンボン科の海産魚(イラスト)。本州中部以南，世界各地の温帯から熱帯にかけて広く分布する。体はまるく，上下両あごの各2枚の歯は中央で癒合していない。体表のほぼ全面にうろこの変形した可動性の長くて強いとげがあり，ふだんは倒れているが，刺激に反応して腹をふくらませるといっせいに直立して，全身がいが栗状になる。この魚の名称もこれに由来する。全長40cm。浅海の岩礁付近などにすみ，4～8月ころ，南西諸島から台湾，フィリピン付近で産卵し，稚魚は黒潮，対馬暖流にのって日本沿岸に達する。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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