Blackspotted puffer
Arothron nigropunctatus
Narrow-lined Puffer
Arothron manilensis
About
The narrow-lined puffer is a small, boldly striped pufferfish that spends its days alone, cruising slowly over sand and seagrass. It grows to about 31 cm.
Also known as: narrow-lined pufferfish, narrowlined toadfish, striped puffer, striped puffer, striped puffer, narrow-lined pufferfish, narrowlined toadfish, narrowlined puffer, manilla puffer, narrow lined puffer, narrow-lined toadfish
- Length
- 31 cm
- Depth
- up to 20 m
How to tell it apart
Several reef fish carry stripes running along the body. This puffer has a fixed, round black blotch at the base of each pectoral fin, a mark that stays in place no matter how faint its stripes look.
Appearance
Its body is oval and rounded, without scales but covered in small prickles. It has no pelvic fins and no lateral line (the sensory stripe most fish use to sense movement in the water). The dorsal and anal fins are small and set far back near the tail. Its background colour is whitish to grey, marked with many brown horizontal stripes running along the body, though these can look faint on some individuals. The fins are pale yellow and see-through, except for the tail fin, which is solid and edged in black. There is a round black blotch at the base of each pectoral fin (the pair just behind the gills), and its eye has a yellowish iris.
Habitat
It lives in the tropical central Indo-Pacific. It favors sheltered spots such as lagoons, reef flats, seagrass beds, and sandy or muddy areas, from the surface down to about 20 m. It also enters estuaries, and young fish shelter among mangroves.
Log it in Into the Blue
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