Porcupinefishes are medium-to-large fish belonging to the family Diodontidae from the order Tetraodontiformes which are also commonly called blowfishes and, sometimes, balloonfishes and globefishes. The family includes about 18 species. They are sometimes collectively called pufferfishes, not to be confused with the morphologically similar and closely related Tetraodontidae, which are more commonly given this name. They are found in shallow, temperate, and tropical seas worldwide. A few species are found much further out from shore, wherein large schools of thousands of individuals can occur.