Boxfish - Decorative encyclopedic plate - Ernst Haeckel, Kunstformen der Natur

Reproduction engraving of: Boxfish

Original title Ostraciontes - Kofferfische

Poster of Ostracion - Vertebrates of the class Pisces (Subclass of bony fishes, teleosts; Order of pufferfishes, plectognaths; Subfamily of boxfishes, ostraciontidae)

Illustration from the book Kunstformen der Natur, which is a collection of artistic lithographs of natural sciences published by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel between 1899 and 1904.

This naturalistic illustration is part of an overall style inspired by Ernst Haeckel, which greatly influenced the emerging Art Nouveau movement at the beginning of the ^20th century. This work, illustrating the impressive beauty and great diversity of the biological world, was complemented by a certain amount of scientific information, some excerpts of which are reproduced below.

This information is over 120 years old and some of it may be outdated!

Scientific classification:

 Vertebrate Phylum (Vertebrata)
Main class Gnathostomes (Gnathostoma)
Class Pisces
Subclass of Bony Fishes (Teleostei)
Order Tetraodontiformes (Plectognathi)
Family of hard-skinned fish (Sclerodermi)
Subfamily of Boxfish (Ostraciontes)

Scientific notice (extract) accompanying the poster print of Ostraciontes - Boxfish :

Boxfishes or Ostraciontes differ in several respects from ordinary bony fishes. The short, stocky body is largely enclosed in a rigid bony armor, composed of hexagonal plates. Only the mouth, the bases of the fins, and the posterior part of the tail are covered with soft skin, so that the muscles attached to them can move them freely. The bones of the upper jaw apparatus (maxilla and intermaxilla) are fused together and with the skull, so that the latter resembles a short beak: Each jaw is armed with a single row of small, fine teeth (Figs. 2 and 3). The slit of the small mouth is very narrow, as is the short gill slit that lies just in front of the pectoral fins. The ventral fins have disappeared. The small dorsal fin is situated very far back, almost opposite the similar anal fin. The considerable caudal fin is rounded. The short spine is composed of only fourteen vertebrae. The large eyes are located high on the forehead. The genus Ostracion has more than 20 species, most of which inhabit tropical seas; many species are armed with strong spines and are distinguished by bright colors. The strong, usually hexagonal, bony plates that make up the hard armor often have very delicate sculpture; they appear covered with numerous small, pearl-like bumps; often these are regularly arranged in rows or bands that radiate from the center of the armor plates (Figs. 5-8 and 10).

Species present on the naturalist board of Boxfish - Ostracion :

• Ostracion cornutus
• Ostracion quadricornis
• Ostracion auritus
• Ostracion turritus