least puffer
Sphoeroides parvus Shipp & Yerger, 1969
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
Least puffer (Sphoeroides parvus) is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes. This species is the common bay and inshore puffer for the waters around Texas and Louisiana. It has also been found as far east as Apalachicola Bay and south to Yucatán. Mature least puffers are small, usually less than four inches (100 mm).
Wikipedia contributors, Least puffer; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:25.958894+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sphoeroides parvus Shipp & Yerger, 1969
- Name authority
- Shipp & Yerger, 1969
- Common name
- least 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 parvus Shipp & Yerger, 1969
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 |
| blunthead pufferSphoeroides pachygaster (Müller & Troschel, 1848) | 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 |
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.
- Shipp, R. L., & Yerger, R. W. (1969). A new puffer fish, Sphoeroides parvus, from the western Gulf of Mexico, with a key to species of Sphoeroides from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 82: 477–488. 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:4Z2GK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.