thornback cowfish
Lactoria fornasini (Bianconi, 1846)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Thornback cowfish (Lactoria fornasini), Mahé, Seychelles
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The thornback cowfish (Lactoria fornasini), is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Ostraciidae, the boxfishes. This species is found throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Bass Islands (French Polynesia). It can grow to a maximum length of 23 cm (9 in). It is an uncommon fish that feeds on small invertebrates that it picks up off the sea bed.
Wikipedia contributors, Thornback cowfish; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:49:55.550186+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lactoria fornasini (Bianconi, 1846)
- Name authority
- (Bianconi, 1846)
- Common name
- thornback cowfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Ostraciidae
- Genus
- Lactoria
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderTetraodontiformes
- suborderBalistoidei
- familyOstraciidae Rafinesque, 1810
- genusLactoria Jordan & Fowler, 1902
- speciesLactoria fornasini (Bianconi, 1846)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lactoria. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| longhorn cowfishLactoria cornuta (Linnaeus, 1758) | OstraciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| roundbelly cowfishLactoria diaphana (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | OstraciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lactoria paschae (Rendahl, 1921) | OstraciidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Lactoria fuscomaculata von Bonde, 1923 von Bonde, 1923 | synonym |
| Lactoria galeodon Jenkins, 1903 Jenkins, 1903 | synonym |
| Ostracion pentacanthus Bleeker, 1857 Bleeker, 1857 | synonym |
| Lactoria pentacanthus (Bleeker, 1857) (Bleeker, 1857) | synonym |
| Ostracion fornasini Bianconi, 1846 Bianconi, 1846 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219902 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3RSY4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.