Lagocephalus lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Lagocephalus lunaris, also known as the lunartail puffer, is a species of fish in the family Tetraodontidae. It lives in areas in the Indo-Pacific, and its habitat is areas in coastal marine waters, at depths of up to 150 meters, in sandy bottoms, coastal reefs, estuaries and mangroves.
This fish is listed as least concern, due to it overlapping many marine protected areas.
It has a maximum length of 45 centimeters. It eats marine invertebrates as its food source, and contains poison that makes it dangerous to consume.
Endoparasites of the lunartail puffer include Angusticaecum tetrodonti, Bianium arabicum, Bianium plicitum, Caligus laminatus, Maculifer indicus, Neodiploproctodaeum karachiense, Notoporus stunkardi, and Opistholebes amplicoelus.
Wikipedia contributors, Lunartail puffer; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T22:59:14.719658+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Lagocephalus lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Name authority
- (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Tetraodontidae
- Genus
- Lagocephalus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderTetraodontiformes
- suborderTetraodontoidei
- familyTetraodontidae Bonaparte, 1831
- genusLagocephalus Swainson, 1839
- speciesLagocephalus lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Lagocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Lagocephalus gloveri Abe & Tabeta, 1983 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smooth blaasopLagocephalus inermis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| smooth pufferLagocephalus laevigatus (Linnaeus, 1766) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lagocephalus spadiceus (Richardson, 1845) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lagocephalus suezensis Clark & Gohar, 1953 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Weeler's pufferfishLagocephalus wheeleri Abe, Tabeta & Kitahama, 1984 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lagocephalus cheesemanii (Clarke, 1897) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lagocephalus guentheri Miranda Ribeiro, 1915 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| ocean pufferLagocephalus lagocephalus (Linnaeus, 1758) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| silverstripe blaasopLagocephalus sceleratus (Gmelin, 1789) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Spheroides lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Sphoerodon lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Sphoeroides lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Lagocephalus lunaris lunaris (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | synonym |
| Tetrodon lunaris Bloch & Schneider, 1801 Bloch & Schneider, 1801 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=219957 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3RX8T. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.