Boxfish have a very special place in my heart – physiologically, they are some of the most fascinating fish I’ve seen. No matter how many times I see a Boxfish, I always get excited and stop to watch them noodle by. If you’ve ever seen one head-on, you know exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t know if we’ll get to see a box fish on our upcoming snorkeling trip, but it this coloring book just wouldn’t be complete without at least one of these fantastic fish!
You can read about this project in the post “A Fish Journal for a six-year-old” and you can see all the posts for this project using the tag “Fish Coloring Book“.
Smooth trunkfish grow to about six – ten inches long and are always fun to see swimming around the reef. Their bodies are so boxy they don’t use their tail to swim very often; instead they mostly use their pectoral fins to move around. Because their pectoral fins are almost totally clear, it sometimes looks like they are hovering or floating through the water.
Smooth Trunkfish hunt for their food by blowing jets of water at the sand to uncover their favorites that include mollusks, crustaceans, worms, and sponges.
You are very likely to see a Smooth Trunkfish not only because they are fairly common, they are also not shy and don’t mind if you swim over slowly to watch while they go about their business.
Erica Lauer Vose 