The scrawled cowfish (Acanthostracion quadricornis) is a species of boxfish native to the eastern Atlantic. They range in size from 8 -, with a maximum length of 18 in, and can be found at depths between 6 and. It is common to occasional in Florida and Bahamas; occasional to uncommon in the Caribbean. It also occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, north to Massachusetts, Bermuda and south to Brazil in tropical and warm temperate waters.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acanthostracion quadricornis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens72
BINs4
Marker genes1
eDNA detections78
Countries7
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P652 bp consensus71 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 98% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 13 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.85%
Haplotypes15
BINs4
Most divergent pair2.1%
N.AmericaS.AmericaEuropeOceania
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualAcanthostracion quadricornis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size1 007 340 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Acanthostracion quadricornis1.01 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
07Deep time~7.62 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin7.62 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 947 records
Wild obs. + sensor4 841
Museum / vouchered2 030
Cultivated / captive8
Other68
Origin
Native89
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO9 516 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit1 351
200–1000 m twilight0
1–4 km midnight0
>4 km abyssal0
median 14 m · max 104 m · 1 351 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy79% within 1 km
≤100 m 807≤1 km 306≤10 km 162>10 km 129
1 404 georeferenced · 3 437 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor4 841
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy20% within 1 km
≤100 m 71≤1 km 45≤10 km 298>10 km 154
568 georeferenced · 1 462 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence2 030
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy
no georeferenced coordinates · 8 records without
Open the mapnot free-living8
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions18 of 45 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
354
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record
90
Washington, US
82
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
59
Tapachula, MX
52
CASlocation not on record
40
Cambridge, US
34
FishBaselocation not on record
32
Mexico City, MX
20
Los Angeles, US
17
Chicago, US
16
Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record
15
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
14
University of Alabamalocation not on record
11
Toronto, CA
9
New Haven, US
8
Paris, FR
6
Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratorylocation not on record
5
University of California San Diegolocation not on record
5
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record
5
Ann Arbor, US
4
Geneva, CH
4
Wuzhou, CN
4
4
Vancouver, CA
3
UFESlocation not on record
3
Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record
3
Southeastern Louisiana University, Vertebrate Museumlocation not on record
3
Frankfurt am Main
3
INMAlocation not on record
3
University of Nebraskalocation not on record
2
UNICAMPlocation not on record
2
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias, Universidad Veracruzana, Región Poza Rica-Tuxpanlocation not on record
2
Mexico City, MX
1
University of Victorialocation not on record
1
Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record
1
Morelia, MX
1
The University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobagolocation not on record
1
University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
1
Champaign, US
1
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
1
NHMOlocation not on record
1
Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgiquelocation not on record
1
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados, Unidad Irapuato, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record
1
45 institutions · 926 of 2 030 vouchered records shown · 21 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA78 detections
Where the DNA of Acanthostracion quadricornis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found78
Studies independent surveys1
Countries5
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 78 detections have coordinates
Open the map5 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median27.1 °C 24.2–28.2
Seasonal swing summer↔winter4.40 °C
Max temp (day)28.5 °C 25.6–30.2
Min temp (night)25.5 °C 23.5–27.1
Precipitation120 mm/mo 49.0–228
Air humidity62.9 % 58.9–64.3
Vapour deficit1,363 Pa 1,216–1,408
Cloud cover33.9 % 20.4–35.1
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 63 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility3 993 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System2 954 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI78 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics72 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome ~1.01 Gbp↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗