''Pao brevirostris'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of pufferfish in the family

Tetraodontidae 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, swellfish, ...

. It is a tropical freshwater species native to

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, where it is known from the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

basin and the

Chao Phraya The Chao Phraya River is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand. Etymology Written evidence of the river being referred to by the ...

drainage. It inhabits marshes and swamps with dense aquatic plant cover, and the species is known to frequently hide between roots and among submerged foliage. It can grow to

standard length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of fish anatomy, their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is ...

. In captivity, the species has been reported to eat juvenile fish, with individuals involved in a study being fed on juveniles of the species ''

Oreochromis niloticus ''Oreochromis'' is a large genus of oreochromine cichlids, fishes endemic to Africa and the Middle East. A few species from this genus have been introduced far outside their native range and are important in aquaculture. Many others have ver ...

'', ''Barbonymus gonionotus'', ''Henicorhynchus siamensis'', and ''Hypophthalmichthys molitrix''.

References

Tetraodontidae Fish of the Mekong Basin Fish of Cambodia Fish of Laos Fish of Thailand Fish of Vietnam Fish described in 1957 {{Tetraodontiformes-stub