Tetraodontidae

Blackspotted puffer

Arothron nigropunctatus

Pairs nibbling the tips of branching coral

• Black
• Blue
• Yellow
• Tropical
• Nearshore
• Globally widespread
• Marine fish
• Globular or blocky
• Medium
• Tropical fish

Bearing an endearing, velvet-textured muzzle that earns it the universal moniker of the dog-faced puffer, the blackspotted puffer is an unmistakable resident of flourishing Indo-Pacific coral biomes. Its rotund, heavy body is encased in soft, scaleless skin dusted with fine prickly spinules, displaying variable base colorations from pale slate-blue and ash-grey to brilliant canary-yellow. An irregular constellation of dark chocolate-brown to jet-black spots is scattered across the flanks, while the thick lips and eyes are bordered by dark, velvety facial shading resembling a dog's muzzle. Ranging across the tropical Indo-Pacific from the coast of East Africa through Micronesia and the Great Barrier Reef to Samoa, it frequents clear outer reef slopes, drop-offs, and lagoon crests between two and twenty-five meters depth. A deliberate, slow-swimming browser, it uses four massive dental plates to shear the growing tips of branching Acropora corals, crunching through stony calcium skeletons to digest polyps, sponges, and molluscs. Highly toxic, it attains maximum recorded total lengths of thirty-three centimetres.

Sources: Australian Museum — Blackspotted Puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus