''Arothron immaculatus'', the immaculate puffer or yellow-eyed puffer, is a pale greyish to brownish pufferfish from the Indo-West

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. It is a species of marine

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

in the family

Tetraodontidae Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

Description

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 Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

. The lips and

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

of the immaculate pufferfish are yellow. The caudal fin is yellow, bordered with black.

Distribution

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. They are usually found on sandy bottoms close to reefs and in lagoons to a depth of 30 meters. Immaculate puffers are often found hunting in patches of isolated rubble and in fields of sea grasses.

Diet

The immaculate puffer is primarily carnivorous but has been reported feeding on sea grasses and mangroves as well. Their normal diet consists of crustaceans and mollusks.

References

External links

Fishes of Australia : ''Arothron immaculatus''
* immaculatus Marine fish of Northern Australia Marine fish of South Africa immaculate puffer {{Perciformes-stub