Welcome to the Marine Mili series, a regular column about all things marine! During this series I aim to inspire people to want to protect our oceans and all the marine life that call our oceans home. Hopefully after reading each column, you would have learnt something new, including what we can do to help protect and preserve our oceans. You can follow me and my journey on my Instagram page: _marine_mili.

The Ornate Cowfish (Aracana Ornata) is a local species only found in southern Australia making them endemic to the area. 

This species is found in shallow waters up to 15 metres in depth.

Often while I am scuba diving, I see these beautiful fish out in their natural habitat. Ornate Cowfish are also often found in seagrass beds which provides shelter for them from any potential predators. 

Their predators include marine mammals, seabirds and large fish include sharks, tuna, marlin, and swordfish.

Like Cowfish’s close relatives the Boxfish, they have a layer of mucus on their skin which is poisonous.  They release it when they feel stressed or threatened and protects them from most predators. However, it will not deter all predators of these gorgeous little jewels of the sea. 

Ornate Cowfish can grow up to fifteen centimetres and have a remarkably interesting anatomy with their body becoming encased in a carapace that is shaped like a box due to the bony plates in their body. 

Ornate Cowfish commonly eat bottom dwelling invertebrate such as sea urchins, shrimp, and crabs.

If you have ever a male and female Ornate Cowfish next to each to each other, you would probably think that they are two different species as they look nothing alike.

There are a few reasons why they look completely different, with one being the need to attract a mate.