Question about puffer family...

stellablu

stellablu

AC Members
Nov 10, 2004
136
0
0
45
Port St. Lucie, FL
www.livejournal.com
I've been going crazy trying to find a just answer to this question: Are Starry, Fahaka, Striped and like bodied puffers a type of Dog Faced Puffer?

I found what appeared to be mislabeled puffers. I had a discussion with a LFS worker that had a Striped and a Starry labelled both as Dog Faced Puffer, the guy in the store said they were sold to them as a Dog Faced. I told him their actual names, but neither of us were sure about genus/family.

I have been searching pages only to bump into a LOT of confusion...like this site says:
The dog face puffer (Arothron hispidus), also known as the stars and stripes puffer, is one of the hardiest and a very suitable aquarium fish. Compared with the typical "freshwater" puffers the dog faced puffer is not brightly coloured. It is basically a grey-brown in colour, but these are enhanced with a variable pattern of attractive stripes and spots.
Click to expand...

Um, my understanding was that a Stars & Stripes (aka Starry) was black with white well...stars and stripes. Very pretty and brightly colored. The grey-brown they are talking about reminds me of a Dog Faced (aka Black Spotted)...

The fish store worker was under the impression that puffers were split into categories of Sharp Nosed (puffers like the Valenti) and Dog Faced (the chunkier types of puffers). I was under the impression that those were two specific species of puffers, not genuses.

Who is right? I obviously need some edu-ma-cation on the subject.
 
Puffer taxonomy is long overdue for a major reclassification of the genera, if not the entire family. There are too many fish lumped in the genus Tetraodon for one thing. Several other genera are shaky as well. Perhaps all the genome work being done on the family will prompt some taxonomist to undertake a full or at partial revision of the major genera.

But in everyday terms, no, the fish you name are not types of Dog-faced puffers. Common names for puffers, especially as applied at the LFS level, are a disaster and lead many hobbyists astray. Whenever possible use the real name if you know it (perhaps adding the most familiar common name for additional clarity) - and on the web even that won't help as there are so many incorrect sites with totally hashed nomenclature.
 
Yup, my re-eye is a t. lierius(sp?) look up red eyed puffer and youl get atleast 4 different fish. t. lierius is also known as the "twin-spot" and the "target" puffer. look up targer puffer and youll get 4 more types of fish. I'm not sure how the pet stores get it wrong, they must just order a cool looking fish from the suply guy, then try to ID it from a book?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom