Bandtail puffer

Taxobox
name = Bandtail puffer
status =

---

image_width = 200px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Tetraodontiformes
familia = Tetraodontidae
genus = "Sphoeroides"
species = "S. spengleri"
binomial = "Sphoeroides spengleri"
binomial_authority = (Bloch, 1785)

Bandtail puffer, "Sphoeroides spengleri", is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes. [An anonymous review of volume I of Lacépède's "Histoire naturelle des poissons" (in the "Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung", 1798, columns 673–680) was apparently the first publication to Latinize several of Lacépède's genera; in this case Lacépède's name was "Sphéroïdes".] It can grow to a length of about 30 cm and is common in the Caribbean and observed from Massachusetts, USA in the north to Santa Catarina, Brazil in the south. [FishBase genus | genus = Sphoeroides | month = June | year = 2008] .

Biology

The bandtail puffer is usually found on seagrass beds and coral reefs, and mostly close to the the bottom, where it finds adequate cover and is less likely to be spotted by predators. The preferred food items are molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms.

References