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False-eye Puffer
Canthigaster papua (Bleeker, 1848)
A False-eye Puffer at a depth of 12m, Ribbon Reef # 10, Great Barrier Reef off Cooktown, Queensland, December 2001. View larger image.
A False-eye Puffer at a depth of 12m, Ribbon Reef # 10, Great Barrier Reef off Cooktown, Queensland, December 2001. View larger image.
A False-eye Puffer at a depth of 12m, Ribbon Reef # 10, Great Barrier Reef off Cooktown, Queensland, December 2001. View larger image.
The False-eye Puffer can be recognised by its colouration. It is brown to orange with numerous small blue-green spots on the body and caudal fin. Black-edged blue-green lines radiate from the eye and a black spot is present below the dorsal fin.
This species grows to 9cm in length.
It occurs in tropical marine waters of the Western Pacific.
In Australia it is known from the offshore reefs of north-western Western Australia and from the northern Great Barrier Reef.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Western Australian Museum. Pp. 292. (as Canthigaster solandri)
- Allen, G.R. & J.E. Randall. 1977. Review of the Sharpnose Pufferfishes (Subfamily Canthigasterinae) of the Indo-Pacific. Records of the Australian Museum. 30(17): 475-517.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & R.C. Steene. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 557.
