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Arothron

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arothron
Narrow-lined puffer (Arothron manilensis)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Division: Teleostei
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Tetraodontidae
Subfamily: Tetraodontinae
Genus: Arothron
J. P. Müller, 1841
Diversity
14 species

Arothron is a genus of pufferfish that belongs to the family Tetraodontidae. Arothron species inhabit coastal waters, with the exception of A. firmamentum.[1] While they are highly toxic due to the presence of tetrodotoxin, several species are eaten in Japan.[2] Arothron species are sometimes kept in aquaria.[3][4]

Distribution

[edit]

They have a wide range of distribution being found in warm parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean.[3]

Evolution

[edit]
Phylogeny with 12 of the 14 species

The oldest described specimens of this genus are dated to the early Pleistocene epoch around 1.95-1.35 million years ago. They were uncovered in the Liuchungchi Formation in southern Taiwan. They are semi-articulated specimens with nearly complete skulls that show characteristic beak-like jaws.[5]

Description

[edit]
Patterns of 7 species of Arothron. It is hypothesized that species with reticulated patterns (D-F) may have hybrid origins; the result of blending the patterns of one parent with dark spots and a light background, and a parent with light spots and a dark background.[6]

The largest species is A. stellatus, which can reach 1.2 m (3.9 ft) in length.[3]

They can be distinguished from other genera of pufferfish through the combination of the presence of a bifurcated fleshy protuberance at each nostril, and a single continuous lateral line on each side of the body without a branch above the anus.[7][8] While Chelonodon and Tetraodon also have the bifurcated nostril tentacles, their lateral lines branch down towards the anus.[9]

Species

[edit]

There are currently 14 recognized species in this genus:[3][4]

Image Species Common name
Arothron caeruleopunctatus

Matsuura, 1994

 Blue-spotted puffer
Arothron carduus

(Cantor, 1849)
Arothron diadematus

(Rüppell, 1829)

 Masked puffer
Arothron firmamentum

(Temminck & Schlegel, 1850)

 Starry puffer
Arothron hispidus

(Linnaeus, 1758)

 White-spotted puffer
Arothron immaculatus

(Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)

 Immaculate puffer
Arothron inconditus

J. L. B. Smith, 1958

 Belly-striped puffer
Arothron manilensis

(Marion de Procé, 1822)

 Narrow-lined puffer
Arothron mappa

(Lesson, 1831)

 Map puffer
Arothron meleagris

(Anonymous, referred to Lacépède, 1798)

 Guineafowl puffer
Arothron multilineatus

Matsuura, 2016

 Many-lined puffer[10]
Arothron nigropunctatus

(Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)

 Black-spotted puffer
Arothron reticularis

(Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)

 Reticulated puffer
Arothron stellatus

(Anonymous, referred to Lacépède, 1798)

 Stellate puffer
Synonyms
  • Arothron aerostaticus (Jenyns, 1842) valid as Arothron stellatus
  • Arothron gillbanksii (Clarke, 1897) valid as Arothron firmamentum
  • Arothron leopardus (Day, 1878) valid as Chelonodon leopardus
  • Arothron perspicillaris (Rüppell, 1829) valid as Arothron hispidus

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Hardy, Graham S. (1980). "A redescription of the antitropical pufferfish Arothron firmamentum (Plectognathi: Tetraodontidae)". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 7 (1): 115–125. doi:10.1080/03014223.1980.10423768. ISSN 1175-8821.
  2. ↑ Khora, Samanta S.; Isa, Jiro; Yasumoto, Takeshi (1991). "Toxicity of puffers from Okinawa, Japan". NIPPON SUISAN GAKKAISHI. 57 (1): 163–167. doi:10.2331/suisan.57.163. ISSN 1349-998X.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Arothron". FishBase. December 2016 version.
  4. 1 2 Fricke, Ron; Eschmeyer, William N. & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Arothron". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  5. ↑ Lee, Chieh-Hsuan; Přikryl, Tomáš; Hsu, Yu-Chieh; Lin, Chien-Hsiang (2026-03-31). "First skeletal record of the pufferfish Arothron (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) from the Early Pleistocene of southern Taiwan". Palaeontologia Electronica. 29 (1): 1–15. doi:10.26879/1668. ISSN 1094-8074.
  6. ↑ Miyazawa, Seita (2020-12-02). "Pattern blending enriches the diversity of animal colorations". Science Advances. 6 (49). American Association for the Advancement of Science: eabb9107. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abb9107. PMC 7710386. PMID 33268371.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
  7. ↑ Mishra, Subhrendu & Chakraborty, Priyankar & Yardi, Kranti. (2021). New record of white-spotted pufferfish Arothron hispidus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) from West Bengal, India, compared with other Arothron species occurring in India. Journal of Fisheries. 9. 93401. 10.17017/j.fish.332.
  8. ↑ 松浦, 啓一 (1994). "インド・西太平洋から得られらたモヨウフグ属の1新種". 魚類学雑誌. 41 (1): 29–33. doi:10.11369/jji1950.41.29.
  9. ↑ Keiichi, Matsuura; Okuno, Junji (1991). "Redescription of a rare pufferfish, Arothron carduus (Cantor, 1849) (Teleostei: Tetraodontidae)". National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo. 17 (3).
  10. ↑ Matsuura, K. (2016). "A new pufferfish, Arothron multilineatus (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), from the Indo-West Pacific". Ichthyological Research. 63 (4): 480–486.


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