Blunthead puffer

Taxobox | name = Blunthead puffer


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Tetraodontiformes
familia = Tetraodontidae
genus = "Sphoeroides"
species = "S. pachygaster"
binomial = "Sphoeroides pachygaster"
binomial_authority = (Müller & Troschel, 1848)

The blunthead puffer, "Sphoeroides pachygaster", is a pufferfish 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

*
* 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