THIS LITTLE PORCUPINEFISH, perhaps a juvenile at about 12 inches long, was donated to The Children’s Museum by Indianapolis Public Schools just prior to the museum’s opening in 1925. The very first item in its collection, the fish was displayed in the carriage house of the Propylaeum at 14th and Delaware streets, the museum’s original location. How the creature came to be in a local school is unknown. Porcupinefish, also known as pufferfish, are native to tropical waters. They live in reefs, caves, and seagrass beds, swelling up to increase their size and display their prickly defense mechanisms to intimidate predators. The specimen needs to be handled under specific safety protocols, since arsenic was used in taxidermy as a preservative at the turn of the last century. While the fish is not publicly displayed at this time, a miniature replica can be spotted in the museum’s Mini Masterpieces exhibit on Level 4.
Vintage: late 1800s–early 1900s
Resides in the archives of The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
