Blackspotted puffer

The blackspotted puffer, also called the dog-faced puffer, is a small, round-bodied reef fish found across the Indo-Pacific. It grows to about 33 cm and comes in a surprising range of colours, from grey to bright yellow.

Also known as: arothron nigropunctatus, black spotted blow fish, black spotted puffer, black-spotted pufferfish, blackspotted blaasop, blackspotted toadfish, puffer fish

Bright yellow individuals can look almost identical to the yellow colour form of the guineafowl puffer, and hybrids between the two have even been seen. Check the snout: this species has a pale bar crossing the top of it.

The body is oval, spherical and somewhat elongated, with no scales and no pelvic fins. The snout is short, with two pairs of nostrils, and the small terminal mouth carries four strong teeth. Background colour is variable: grey, light brown, bluish, bright yellow, orangey yellow, or a two-tone mix of blue and yellow. Dark shading surrounds the eyes and mouth, the skin carries scattered dark blotches of different sizes and shapes, and a pale bar crosses the top of the snout.

It lives across the tropical Indo-Pacific, from the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific islands, though not in the Red Sea. It stays close to outer reef slopes and lagoons, from the surface down to about 25 m, in areas with plenty of invertebrate growth.

poisonous to eat

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  Bullseye Puffer

  Sphoeroides annulatus

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  Caribbean Sharpnose Puffer

  Canthigaster rostrata

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  Checkered Puffer

  Sphoeroides testudineus

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  Guineafowl Puffer

  Arothron meleagris

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  Macaronesian Sharpnose Puffer

  Canthigaster capistrata

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  Map puffer

  Arothron mappa