Eastern Smooth Boxfish

The Eastern Smooth Boxfish is a small, cube-shaped fish with a hard, inflexible body and smooth skin—no spines or ridges. It grows to around 37 cm and inhabits shallow coastal reefs and seagrass beds from southern Australia eastward. Brownish or grey in colour, sometimes with pale spots, it grazes on small crustaceans and molluscs by probing around the seabed. An inquisitive but cautious species, it can release toxins from its skin when stressed, so observation from a distance is wise.