Flavimaculosus Puffer

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.

T. flavimaculosus reaches a maximum total length of 16cm. The species is distinguished by numerous small brown spots arranged in rosette-like patterns around larger white spots on the dorsal surface, yellow-brown markings on the cheeks, a white belly, and pale fins. It also possesses small dermal spinules extending from the region between the nasal organs to the origin of the dorsal fins.