White-spotted puffer

Not to be confused with Torquigener albomaculosus or white-spotted pufferfish.

White-spotted puffer
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Tetraodontidae
Genus: Arothron
Species:
A. hispidus
Binomial name
Arothron hispidus
Synonyms

Tetraodon implutus Jenyns, 1842[2]

The white-spotted puffer fish (Arothron hispidus) is a medium to large-sized puffer fish, it can reach 50 cm length.[3] It is light grey in color, or greyish or yellowish, and clearly covered with more or less regular white points, that become concentric contrasting white and dark grey lines that radiate around the eyes and pectoral fins. The ventral part is white. The "shoulder" (around the pectoral fins) is dark. It also has concentric contrasting white and dark grey lines that radiate around the eyes and pectoral fins. The white spotted puffer fish is poisonous.

Its distribution extends through the Indo-Pacific area, Red Sea included, to the eastern Pacific Ocean.[4] A confirmed record was reported recently from the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Cyprus.[5] It can be found at depths of three to 35 metres. Its habitat types include reefs, lagoons, estuaries, and tidepools. Its diet includes calcareous or coralline algae, molluscs, tunicates, sponges, corals, zoanthids, crabs, polychaetes, starfish, urchins, krill, and silversides.

The adult is nocturnal and solitary. It is territorial, becoming somewhat aggressive.

  1. ^ Hardy, G.; Jing, L.; Leis, J.L.; Liu, M.; Matsuura, K.; Shao, K. (2014). "Arothron hispidus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T193699A2262231. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T193699A2262231.en. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. ^ Kottelat, M. (2013). The Fishes of the Inland Waters of Southeast Asia: A Catalogue and Core Bibliography of the Fishes Known to Occur in Freshwaters, Mangroves and Estuaries. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2013, Supplement No. 27: 1–663.
  3. ^ "Arothron hispidus, White-spotted puffer : fisheries, aquarium". Fishbase.org. 2012-07-03. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  4. ^ "Facts about White-spotted Puffer (Arothron hispidus) - Encyclopedia of Life". Eol.org. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  5. ^ Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea (Arothron hispidus). 2nd Edition. 2021. 366p. CIESM Publishers, Paris, Monaco.https://ciesm.org/atlas/fishes_2nd_edition/Arothron_hispidus.pdf