Masked puffer fish
| Masked puffer fish | ||||||||||||
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Masked Puffer ( Arothron diadematus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Arothron diadematus | ||||||||||||
| ( Rüppell , 1829) |
The masked puffer ( Arothron diadematus ) lives endemically in the coral-rich fringing reefs of the Red Sea at depths of two to twenty meters. It is very closely related to the black-point pufferfish ( Arothron nigropunctatus ) from the Indo-Pacific and is assigned to this species by some scientists.
Masked puffer fish are dirty white. A broad, dark brown band that extends over the eyes to the approaches of the pectoral fins is characteristic. The mouth region, the dorsal and anal fin are also brown. The fish become 30 centimeters long. The skin is flaky and covered with small spines.
They live near the ground, are solitary and territorial and feed on snails , mussels , crustaceans and corals .
literature
- Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6 Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like) . Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-116-X
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world . Year Top Special Verlag Hamburg, ISBN 3-86132-112-2
Web links
Commons : Arothron diadematus - album with pictures, videos and audio files
- Masked puffer fish on Fishbase.org (English)