Blunthead puffer: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 19:31, 25 July 2006
| Blunthead puffer | |
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| Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling | |
| Scientific classification | |
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| Species: | S. pachygaster
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| Binomial name | |
| Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
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The blunthead puffer, Sphoeroides pachygaster, is a ghost flathead of the family Tetraodontidae, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m. Its length is up to 40 cm.
The blunthead puffer has the typical rounded smooth shape of the pufferfishes, with small paddle-shaped fins and raised eyebrows.
Colouration is olive-tinged brownish above and white below - occasionally with dark spots on the flanks. The fins and mouth are yellow.
The blunthead puffer inhabits sandy, muddy and rocky bottoms and feeds mainly on squid. The young are pelagic.
References
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Sphoeroides pachygaster". FishBase. May 2006 version.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8