Yellowspotted puffer (Torquigener flavimaculosus)

Image source: Luca Sattin | inaturalist.org
General data
- Main name: Yellowspotted puffer
- Climates: Tropical, Subtropical
- Habitat: Saltwater
- Native: Africa, Asia
- Introduced: Europe
- Distribution: Mediterranean Sea, Indian ocean, Red sea
Classification
- Genus: Torquigener - Torquigener
- Family: Tetraodontidae - Puffers
- Order: Tetraodontiformes - Puffers and filefishes
- Class: Teleostei - Ray-finned fishes
- Superclass: Osteichthyes - Bony fishes
Description
Torquigener flavimaculosus is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, capable of very rapid body inflation when threatened. Native to the Western Indian Ocean, it is also found in the Indo-Pacific from the Persian Gulf to the Seychelles. Recorded first in the Mediterranean Sea in 1987, following a likely migration through the Suez Canal, it is now expanding westward.