Blunthead puffer

Sphoeroides pachygaster

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth32–332 m
Water temperature11–29 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and September
How commonOccasional

About this species

The blunthead puffer is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae up to 40 cm long, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m.

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 25 records
February: 52 records
March: 97 records
April: 231 records
May: 186 records
June: 105 records
July: 92 records
August: 87 records
September: 157 records
October: 105 records
November: 84 records
December: 22 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 32–332 m · Deepest record: 2,543 m

0–10 m: 12 records
10–20 m: 54 records
20–30 m: 42 records
30–40 m: 31 records
40–50 m: 12 records
50–60 m: 7 records
60–70 m: 3 records
70–80 m: 3 records
80–90 m: 8 records
90–100 m: 14 records
100–110 m: 52 records
110+ m: 900 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C

10–12 °C: 1 records
12–14 °C: 13 records
14–16 °C: 23 records
16–18 °C: 30 records
18–20 °C: 189 records
20–22 °C: 119 records
22–24 °C: 25 records
24–26 °C: 36 records
26–28 °C: 8 records
28–30 °C: 5 records

Names and classification

English: Blunthead puffer, Smooth pufferfish, Balloonfish, Blunthead Blaasop, blunthead puffer, Blunthead Puffer, Bottlefish, Puffer, smooth pufferfish

Names in 4 more languages

Spanish: botete chato, Tamboril de Fuera, Tamboril Ñato
French: Compère Émoussé, Compère émoussé, Tétrodon à tête carrée, sphéroïde trogne, Tétrodon à tête carrée
Japanese: Yoritofugu, ヨリトフグ
Simplified Chinese: 密溝圓魨, 密溝圓魨(皺紋光魨), 氣規, 縱褶河魨, 規仔

Other scientific names: Liosaccus aerobaticus, Liosaccus cutaneus, Liosaccus pachygaster, Sphaeroides cutaneus, Spheroides dubius, Sphoeroides cutaneous, Sphoeroides cutaneus, Sphoeroides dubius, Sphoeroides pachgaster, Tetraodon pachygaster, Tetrodon cutaneus, Tetrodon pachygaster, Thecapteryx lioderma

Similar species

Bristly puffer
Arothron hispidus
Guineafowl puffer
Arothron meleagris
Silverstripe blaasop
Lagocephalus sceleratus
Narrow-lined toadfish
Arothron immaculatus
Narrow-lined Puffer
Arothron manilensis
Map puffer
Arothron mappa

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).
1,687 open-data records from 1908 to 2023.

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