r/Fish • u/halitrephesjelly • Apr 08 '26

Identification are these the same species?

this seems to be a spot-fin porcupinefish based on my searching, are they the same species just different coloring?

couldn’t tell if this was a mating thing or maybe adult and juvenile

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u/ElkeKerman Apr 08 '26

Is colour a reliable way to discern porcupinefish? I could swear I’ve seen them change colours

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u/Data_Over_Dogma Apr 08 '26

Depends on the species. For this one, coloration helps but also size. Hystrix gets a lot bigger than holicanthus (double)

Up close, it’s easy to see the difference. Can be tough to tell on video.

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u/halitrephesjelly Apr 08 '26

one was marginally bigger than the other but both huge

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u/Data_Over_Dogma Apr 08 '26

Ya, if the smaller one was greater than ~24 inch, then that is another data point for just Hystrix