The cowfish, Lactoria cornuta, is a variety of boxfish and a cousin of the paralytic, poisonous pufferfish. They make their home in tropical and subtropical coral reefs in the ocean waters from East Africa to Japan, and feed on just about anything, from algae to small fish and crustaceans. What sets the cowfish apart from other reef denizens is their ability, when threatened or stressed, to discharge poison through their skin to incapacitate and kill predators and would-be muggers.