Immaculate puffer | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
Family: | Tetraodontidae |
Genus: | Arothron |
Species: | A. immaculatus
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Binomial name | |
Arothron immaculatus (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801)
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Arothron immaculatus, the immaculate puffer or yellow-eyed puffer, is a pale greyish to brownish pufferfish from the Indo-West Pacific. It is a species of marine fish in the family Tetraodontidae.
The immaculate puffer is a pufferfish and has a rounded body with a short tail. They have no scales or clear lateral line. They are grey or light brown, though they have the ability to change this to a mottled grey-green coloration presumably used for camouflage.[2] The lips and iris of the immaculate pufferfish are yellow. The caudal fin is yellow, bordered with black.
The immaculate puffer is distributed in the Indo-West Pacific Ocean from the northern coast of Australia throughout Indonesia and even as far west as Madagascar and the east coast of Africa.[citation needed] They are usually found on sandy bottoms close to reefs and in lagoons to a depth of 30 meters.[2] Immaculate puffers are often found hunting in patches of isolated rubble and in fields of sea grasses.[2]
The immaculate puffer is primarily carnivorous but has been reported feeding on sea grasses and mangroves as well.[3] Their normal diet consists of crustaceans and mollusks.[2]