Where Thornback cowfish has been recorded
GBIF occurrence records for Lactoria fornasini, mapped and tabulated by country.
1,253 georeferenced occurrence records with coordinates are published for Lactoria fornasini through GBIF, from 28 countries or marine areas. This page maps those records and lists where they come from. Occurrence records reflect where people have looked as well as where the species lives, so well-surveyed coastlines are over-represented.
- Georeferenced records
- 1,253
- Countries / areas
- 28
- Mapped locations
- 211
- Records sampled for the map
- 1,253
- Inland records omitted
- 38
- Gbif taxonkey
- 2408112
Countries and areas with the most records (GBIF)
Indonesia — 229 records; United States of America — 225 records; Australia — 206 records; Philippines — 196 records; Japan — 95 records; Kenya — 51 records; South Africa — 46 records; Tanzania, United Republic of — 40 records; Seychelles — 34 records; Madagascar — 30 records; Mozambique — 22 records; Chinese Taipei — 14 records; New Caledonia — 13 records; Malaysia — 11 records; Réunion — 10 records.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2408112) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2408112&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Marine regions with a WoRMS distribution record
Mozambican Exclusive Economic Zone; Seychellois Exclusive Economic Zone; Madagascar; Kenyan Exclusive Economic Zone; South Africa (country).
Source: WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219902 (CC BY 4.0). Accessed 2026-09-23.
How to read this map
The map plots a sample of 1,253 of the 1,253 records, deduplicated to a half-degree grid, so dense areas do not merge into one blob. The sample covers 28 of the 28 countries or areas with records; the areas absent from the sample hold 0 records in total.
38 records plotting inland were omitted: for a marine species those are almost always the holding institution's coordinates rather than a collection site.
Records show where the species has been observed and reported, not a modelled range.
Source: GBIF Occurrence Search (taxonKey 2408112) — https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/search?taxon_key=2408112&has_coordinate=true (records CC0 / CC BY); WoRMS distribution records (MarineRegions) — https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219902 (CC BY 4.0); Natural Earth 110m basemap — https://www.naturalearthdata.com/ (public domain). Accessed 2026-09-23.
Related in Thornback cowfish
Links follow this subject's own source article.
Elsewhere in Thornback cowfish
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced