Spotted sharpnose

About this species

Canthigaster solandri, commonly known as the spotted sharpnose puffer, is a ray-finned species of fish in the pufferfish family. It grows to a length of 11.5 centimeters in total length. It lives in the tropical Indo-Pacific: from East Africa to the Line Islands and the Tuamotus, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to New Caledonia and Tonga, to the Hawaiian Islands. This species, like other members of the family Tetraodontidae, demonstrates the ability to rapidly fill itself up like a water balloon, to protect itself from predators. The skin of this species is known to be poisonous.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Canthigaster solandri”, 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: 52 records
February: 91 records
March: 141 records
April: 301 records
May: 246 records
June: 198 records
July: 149 records
August: 106 records
September: 139 records
October: 131 records
November: 94 records
December: 46 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–23 m · Deepest record: 182.9 m

0–10 m: 370 records
10–20 m: 320 records
20–30 m: 147 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 3 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 1 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 22–30 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 6 records
24–26 °C: 9 records
26–28 °C: 101 records
28–30 °C: 385 records

Photos

(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mike Burnett, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Mike Bowie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Rachael Kaiser, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Matt Muir, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jon Sullivan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Spotted sharpnose, false-eye toby, Jewel Pufferfish, Netted Puffer, Netted Pufferfish, Sharpbacked Puffer, Solander's Toby, spotted sharpnose, Spotted Sharpnose Puffer, Spotted Toby, Spotted Toby, Spotted sharpnose

Names in 7 more languages

German: Augenfleck-Spitzkopfkugelfisch
Spanish: Tamborín de Solander
Filipino: Butete
French: Canthigaster De Solander, Canthigaster moucheté, Canthigaster tacheté du Pacifique, Poisson ballon
Japanese: アラレキンチャクフグ
Thai: ปลาปักเป้าเล็กจุดขาว
Simplified Chinese: 尖嘴規, 眼斑扁背魨, 索氏尖鼻魨, 細斑扁背魨, 規仔

Other scientific names: Canthigaster australis, Canthigaster glaucospilotus, Canthigaster saipanensis, Cathigaster solandri, Tetrodon solandri

Similar species

Spider-eye puffer
Canthigaster amboinensis
Bennett's sharpnose puffer
Canthigaster bennetti
Compressed Toby
Canthigaster compressa
Spotted puffer
Canthigaster janthinoptera
False-eyed Pufferfish
Canthigaster papua
Valentinni's sharpnose puffer
Canthigaster valentini

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).
1,747 open-data records from 1844 to 2018.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.