Threetooth puffer
| Threetooth puffer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Triodon macropterus, with extended belly flap | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Tetraodontiformes |
| Family: | Triodontidae Bleeker, 1865-69 |
| Genus: | Triodon G. Cuvier, 1829 |
| Species: | T. macropterus |
| Binomial name | |
| Triodon macropterus Lesson, 1831 | |
Triodon macropterus also known as the Threetooth puffer is a tetraodontiform fish, the only living species in the genus Triodon and family Triodontidae.[1] Other members of the family are known from fossils stretching back to the Eocene.[2]
It is native to the Indo-Pacific, where found at depths to 300 m (980 ft).[3] Its name comes from the Greek tria meaning "three" and odous meaning "tooth", and refers to the three fused teeth making up a beak-like structure.
The threetooth puffer reaches a maximum length of 54 cm (21 in).[3] It has a distinctive shape, with a huge belly flap as large as or larger than its body; it inflates this with seawater when threatened. The flap bears an eye-spot, and is inflated by rotating the shaft-like pelvis downwards. This makes the animal appear much larger to predators, and less likely to be eaten.[2]
The threetooth puffer is also known as the Black-spot keeled pufferfish, and was first scientifically described by Lesson in 1831. [4]
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Freshly caught specimen, belly flap half extended
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Eye
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Eye-looking lateral black spot
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Teeth
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Museum specimen
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Drawing by Cuvier
References
- ↑ Matsuura, K. (2014): Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. Ichthyological Research, 62 (1): 72-113.
- 1 2 Matsuura, K. & Tyler, J.C. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N., ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 230. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- 1 2 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2015). "Triodon macropterus" in FishBase. February 2015 version.
- ↑ Gomon, M.F. & Dianne J. Bray, D.J. (2011): Threetooth Puffer, Triodon macropterus, Fishes of Australia.