---
title: Birdbeak Burrfish (Cyclichthys orbicularis)
scientific_name: Cyclichthys orbicularis
common_name: Birdbeak Burrfish
taxon: Porcupinefishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-11-01T23:04:27.705Z
updated: 2026-08-17T17:37:01.306Z
tags: Birdbeak Burrfish, Cyclichthys orbicularis, Porcupinefishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/porcupinefishes/birdbeak-burrfish
---

# Birdbeak Burrfish (*Cyclichthys orbicularis*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Porcupinefishes (*Diodontidae*)
- **Size:** 30 cm
- **Depth:** 9-170 m
- **Diet:** Durophage
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Sheltered reef with sponges, over sand and mud; often inside large sponges by day
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner
- **Hazard:** Poisonous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- short stout spines on triangular bases, standing up permanently
- brown to gray body with clusters of black spots on the back and sides
- beak-like fused teeth and large eyes
- often wedged inside a large sponge during the day
- up to 30 cm

Its spines are already up. That is the difference between a burrfish and the porcupinefishes it shares the reef with: theirs fold flat until the animal inflates, and this one's are short, thick, three-sided at the base and permanently erect, so the fish is prickly whether or not it has bothered to swell.

The trade is mobility for readiness. Permanent spines cost drag every time it swims, and a burrfish is a slow, deliberate mover that sculls with its pectoral fins and does not go far. In exchange it is never caught unprepared.

By day it wedges itself into something - a large sponge, a crevice, the underside of a ledge - and waits. After dark it comes out over sand and rubble and eats things with shells, crushing them with teeth fused into a solid beak, which is where the family name comes from.

It goes deep for a reef fish, recorded down past a hundred and fifty meters, and juveniles look like a different animal: covered in black spots, drifting in open water long before they settle.

## Also known as

- **English:** birdbeak burrfish, Fixed Spine Porcupinefish, Orbicular Burrfish
- **Arabic:** Buqmah Hajar
- **French:** Poisson porc-épic orbiculaire, Porc-épic bécard, Porc-épine Bécard
- **Italian:** Pesce istrice spine corte
- **German:** Kurzstachel-Igelfisch
- **Spanish:** Puercoespin Pajarito
- **Portuguese:** Baiacu-de-espinho-orbicular
- **Czech:** ježík oblý
- **Japanese:** メイタイシガキフグ, Meitaishigakifugu
- **Chinese:** 刺規, 圓點圓刺魨, 氣瓜仔
- **Russian:** Птичий циклихт
- **CA:** Peix eriçó orbicular
- **DA:** Næbpindsvinefisk
- **SOM:** Qaruumbo-maanyo
- **SW:** Bunju nungu, Bunju
- **TGL:** Botiting laot, Buteteng laot, Buktit
- **TH:** ปลาปักเป้าหนามทุเรียนหนามสั้น

## Scientific synonyms

- *Atinga orbicularis* (Bloch, 1785)
- *Atinga orbicularis coeruleus* (Quoy & Gaimard, 1824)
- *Chilomycterus orbicularis* (Bloch, 1785)
- *Chilomycterus parcomaculatus* von Bonde, 1923
- *Diodon caeruleus* Quoy & Gaimard, 1824
- *Diodon orbicularis* Bloch, 1785

## Range

Federal Republic of Somalia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/porcupinefishes/birdbeak-burrfish)*
*Updated: August 17, 2026*