English Name: Blackedged pufferfish
Family: TETRAODONTIDAE
Local Name: Fukkoli
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Size: Max. 30 cm
Specimen: MRS/0001/86
Distinctive Characters: Dorsal fin with 9-10 rays. Anal fin with 9-10 rays. Pectoral fin with 15-16 rays. Body round in cross-section. Nasal organs of two tentacles joined at the base. Thebody except posterior part of tail, base of anal and snout covered with slender spines. Teeth fused into bony plates.
Colour: Brownish above, lighter below. Upper and lower edge and margin of caudal fin blackish. No markings on body except dark blotch at pectoral fin base.
Habitat and Biology: Generally found in shallow protected waters, to depths of 15 m. A solitary species. Sometimes swims over unsheltered sand and sea grass areas.
Distribution: Indo-West Pacific.
Remarks: Arothron immaculatus, like other pufferfishes, is capable of inflating its body into a spiny ball to deterpredators. They also produce powerful toxins in their tissues, especially in the liver and in the ovaries. Eating of these fishes has resulted in serious illness and sometimes death. Previously recorded under the genus Tetraodon in the Catalogue of Fishes of the Maldives, Vol.1, page 146.
Arothron immaculatus (Bloch and Schneider, 1801)
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Arothron immaculatus (Bloch and Schneider 1801),
Blackedged pufferfish,
Fukkoli