It is distinguished from the porcupinefish by the shorter, less sharply pointed, and immovable spines which cover the somewhat spherical body.

The back and sides are irregularly striped with brownish, dusky, or black lines which are parallel to each other and which run obliquely downward.

It is found mostly in the tropics of the western Atlantic Ocean from Brazil to Florida as well as along the Atlantic coast of North America, sometimes as far north as Cape Cod and regularly during the late summer and fall in the vicinity of New York.

One has been reported caught on dead shrimp as far as Oyster Lake, near Matagorda Bay, Tx.

It is often washed ashore along the beach and is a treacherous object if stepped on by mistake with bare feet.