#2342 · 🐟 fish
Ornate Cowfish
Aracana ornata
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © John Sear · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Nigel Marsh · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © Sascha Schulz · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Sascha Schulz · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Ian Gibbins · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © kade · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Wayne Martin · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © Christopher Mark · CC BY 4.0
- 9. © marciariederer · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Marine Life Society of SA · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Aracana ornata , the ornate cowfish , is a species of boxfish native to the Eastern Indian Ocean. First described by John Edward Gray in 1838, the species has a maximum length of 15cm. They can be differentiated from their close cousins the striped cowfish by the upright look of the spines near their eyes, and their slightly smaller length. Their body is encased in a rigid box-like carapace composed of large sculptured bony plates; bony ridges with...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 4,314 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named by John Edward Gray in 1838 (188 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Ornate Cowfish
- scientific name
- Aracana ornata
- class
- Actinopterygii
- order
- Tetraodontiformes
- family
- Aracanidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 4,314
- GBIF records in NL
- 0
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1838 by John Edward Gray
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 196867, Wikidata Q1466532, GBIF 2408032, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.