White-spotted puffer

White-spotted puffer
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Tetraodontiformes
Family:	Tetraodontidae
Genus:	Arothron
Species:	A. hispidus
Binomial name
Arothron hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The white-spotted puffer, Arothron hispidus, is a medium sized puffer fish, light grey in color with small white spots. It also has concentric contrasting white and dark grey lines that radiate around the eyes and pectoral fins, and this pattern gave rise to its alternate name stars and stripes puffer.

• Found in: South-East Atlantic Ocean, Indo-Pacific Ocean, east Pacific Ocean
• Depth range: (3–35) metres
• Habitat: Reefs, lagoons, estuaries, tidal pools, possibly bigger aquariums
• Diet: Fleshy calcareous or coralline algae, molluscs, tunicates, sponges, corals, zoanthids, crabs, polychaete worms, starfish, urchins, krill, silversides
• Activity: Juveniles found in weedy estuaries. Adults nocturnal, solitary, territorial.
• Semi-aggressive
• Maximum Length: 50 cm.

References

White-spotted puffers are often found in sea grass areas.

• "Arothron hispidus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=173309. Retrieved 30 January 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Arothron hispidus" in FishBase. November 2006 version.