blunthead puffer
Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
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
The blunthead puffer (Sphoeroides pachygaster) is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae up to 40 cm long, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m.
It is considered an invasive species in the Mediterranean Sea, where it was first recorded off the Spanish coast in 1981 after entry via the strait of Gibraltar. It invaded the western basin in following decades, and now reaches eastward the Adriatic Sea, the Aegean Sea and Levantine waters. In 2026 Greece offered a bounty of €5.33 per kilogram in a programme to protect the marine ecosystem.
The fish is edible by humans, and is commonly eaten in Japan, where it is referred to as yorito fugu. Its liver contains dangerous levels of tetrodotoxin, a lethal poison, though less than other species of pufferfish also prepared and eaten, with great care to exclude the liver, as fugu.
Wikipedia contributors, Blunthead puffer; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:59:43.456343+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
- Name authority
- (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
- Common name
- blunthead puffer
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Tetraodontidae
- Genus
- Sphoeroides
- 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
- genusSphoeroides Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798
- speciesSphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sphoeroides. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Sphoeroides andersonianus Morrow, 1957 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| bullseye pufferSphoeroides annulatus (Jenyns, 1842) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sphoeroides greeleyi Gilbert, 1900 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sphoeroides kendalli Meek & Hildebrand, 1928 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| naked pufferSphoeroides lispus Walker, 1996 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| longnose pufferSphoeroides lobatus (Steindachner, 1870) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| least pufferSphoeroides parvus Shipp & Yerger, 1969 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Peruvian pufferSphoeroides sechurae Hildebrand, 1946 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| checkered pufferSphoeroides testudineus (Linnaeus, 1758) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| pygmy pufferSphoeroides trichocephalus (Cope, 1870) | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sphoeroides yergeri Shipp, 1972 | TetraodontidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sphoeroides ocellatus | 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 |
|---|---|
| Liosaccus cutaneus (Günther, 1870) (Günther, 1870) | synonym |
| Spheroides dubius von Bonde, 1923 von Bonde, 1923 | synonym |
| Sphoeroides cutaneous (Günther, 1870) (Günther, 1870) | synonym |
| Sphoeroides cutaneus (Günther, 1870) (Günther, 1870) | synonym |
| Tetrodon pachygaster Müller & Troschel, 1848 Müller & Troschel, 1848 | synonym |
| Tetraodon pachygaster Müller & Troschel, 1848 Müller & Troschel, 1848 | synonym |
| Liosaccus aerobaticus Whitley, 1928 Whitley, 1928 | synonym |
| Liosaccus pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848) (Müller & Troschel, 1848) | synonym |
| Sphaeroides cutaneus (Günther, 1870) (Günther, 1870) | synonym |
| Sphoeroides dubius von Bonde, 1923 von Bonde, 1923 | synonym |
| Sphoeroides pachgaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848) (Müller & Troschel, 1848) | synonym |
| Thecapteryx lioderma Fowler, 1948 Fowler, 1948 | synonym |
| Tetrodon cutaneus Günther, 1870 Günther, 1870 | 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=127417 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:4Z2GH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.