Bristly puffer

About this species

The white-spotted puffer fish is a medium to large-sized puffer fish, it can reach 50 cm length.

Text from the Wikipedia article “White-spotted puffer”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 580 records
February: 621 records
March: 590 records
April: 601 records
May: 642 records
June: 492 records
July: 650 records
August: 624 records
September: 558 records
October: 654 records
November: 584 records
December: 530 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–24 m · Deepest record: 360 m

0–10 m: 220 records
10–20 m: 62 records
20–30 m: 20 records
30–40 m: 9 records
40–50 m: 4 records
50–60 m: 3 records
60–70 m: 4 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 2 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 2 records
110+ m: 3 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–30 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 3 records
20–22 °C: 6 records
22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 17 records
26–28 °C: 42 records
28–30 °C: 49 records

Photos

(c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Alexander Regio, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Michal Maňas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Reizo Knapp, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Adelma Hills, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jeremy Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Bristly puffer, Stripebelly puffer, White-spotted puffer, bristly puffer, Broad Barred Puffer, Broad-Barred Puffer, Broad-barred Toadfish, Broadbarred Toadfish, poison puffer, Pufferfish, Ringed Puffer, Stars-and-Stripes Puffer, Stars And Stripes Puffer, Stars-and-stripes Pufferfish, Stars And Stripes Toadfish, Stars And Stripes Toado, stripebelly puffer, Stripebelly Puffer, Whitespotted Blaasop, White Spotted Blow Fish, white-spotted puffer, Whitespotted Puffer, Whitespotted Puffer, White-spotted puffer

Names in 8 more languages

German: Weißflecken-Kugelfisch
Spanish: botete panza rayada, Botete Pintado, Tamboril Verde De Puntos Blancos
Filipino: Butete
French: Ballon à épaule noire, Ballon Pintade, Bourse-du-sable, Compère à Taches Blanches, Compère à taches blanches, Tétrodon à taches blanches, Poisson ballon à épaule noire, Poisson-ballon à Taches Blanches, Poisson-ballon Pintade, Tétrodon à points blancs, Tétrodon à taches blanches
Japanese: Sazanamifugu, サザナミフグ
Korean: 흰점꺼끌복
Thai: ปลาปักเป้าจุดขาว, ปลาปักเป้ายักษ์แต้มขาว
Simplified Chinese: 烏規, 白點河魨, 紋腹叉鼻魨, 綿規, 纹腹叉鼻鲀, 腹纹叉鼻鲀, 花規, 規仔

Other scientific names: Arothon hispidus, Crayracion hispidus, Dilobomycter hispidus, Dilobomycterus hispidus, Takifugu hispidus, Tetraodon hispidus, Tetraodon perspicillaris, Tetraodon sazanami, Tetraodon semistriatus, Tetrodon hispidus, Tetrodon laterna, Tetrodon pusillus

Similar species

Guineafowl puffer
Arothron meleagris
Narrow-lined toadfish
Arothron immaculatus
Narrow-lined Puffer
Arothron manilensis
Map puffer
Arothron mappa
Blackspotted puffer
Arothron nigropunctatus
Blackspotted puffer
Arothron stellatus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
2,359 open-data records from 1758 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.