Tyler's Toby

The Tyler's toby possesses a globular body while being also a bit compressed laterally. It's a small sized fish, reaching 9 cm maximum in length. Its snout is elongated with a small terminal mouth. The background coloration is whitish, the sides are covered with red spots, the back is yellow to green with a network of blue lines from the caudal fin to the tip of the snout. Blue lines are parallel on the top of the snout. A white circle not closed on its top surrounds the eye. The belly is white and fins are translucent.

Canthigaster tyleri has a limited distribution in the Indian Ocean, it occurs in all the islands from western Indonesia to Tanzania. It has a preference for reef and lagoons where it can easily hide in holes and crevasses, it has a very secretive behavior. It can be found until 40 m depth.

The puffer is named in honor of plectognath taxonomist James C. Tyler (b. 1935), who sent Allen and Randall the first specimen of this fish from the Comoro Islands in the Indian Ocean.