Tetraodontidae

blunthead puffer

Sphoeroides pachygaster

Deep Bodied Pufferfish of the Adriatic Sea

• Cross-climate
• Temperate
• Tropical
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Deep-bodied
• Medium
• Tropical fish

The blunthead puffer (Sphoeroides pachygaster) is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae up to 40 cm long, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m. It is considered an invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, where it was first recorded off the Spanish coast in 1981 after entry via the strait of Gibraltar. It invaded the western basin in following decades, and now reaches eastward the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and Levantine waters.