The clown toado (''Canthigaster callisterna'') a

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

of the genus ''

Canthigaster ''Canthigaster'' is a genus in the pufferfish family (Tetraodontidae). A fish from this genus is sometimes referred to as a "toby" (a generally accepted name that originated in Australia) or a "sharpnose puffer". Species There are currently 37 r ...

'', is found in the southwest

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

including

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the northeast coast of

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

. Its length is between 10 and 20 cm. The clown toado, like other puffers, is highly poisonous.

References

* * * Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, ''Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand'', (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) * Shao, K., Liu, M., Jing, L., Hardy, G., Leis, J.L. & Matsuura, K. 2014. Canthigaster callisterna. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014: e.T193709A2263843
https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T193709A2263843.en.
Accessed on 09 April 2022. callisterna Fish described in 1889 {{Tetraodontiformes-stub