Sealife guideThe bandtail pufferSphoeroides spengleri

Taxonomy
  • Common name: Bandtail puffer
  • French name: Poisson ballon à collier
  • Spanish name: Botete collarete,corrotucho mataperros
  • Scientific name: Sphoeroides spengleri (Bloch, 1785)
  • Family name: Tetraodontidae
  • Order name: Tetraodontiformes
  • Class name: Actinopterygii
Description
The bandtail puffer is a small-sized fish, typically around four inches in length. Its stocky body has a whitish ventral side while its dorsal side is dark, ranging from greenish to brown, with darker or even whitish spots scattered across it. These features are separated by a whitish line superimposed with a line of dark spots, both located along its flanks.
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri)
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri) ©  | Dreamstime.com
The bandtail puffer has large, bulging eyes and a prominent mouth with thick visible teeth.
Range
The bandtail puffer frequents the waters of the northwest Atlantic ocean, from Massachusetts in the north to Brazil in the south, via the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea.
The bandtail puffer is found particularly along the Florida coast.
Habitat
The bandtail puffer lives close to or even on sandy bottoms or in seagrass beds where it easily blends in with its surroundings.
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri)
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri) ©  | Dreamstime.com
Diet
The bandtail puffer is an opportunistic carnivore that primarily feeds on small invertebrates it finds in sandy bottoms or seagrass beds, such as small crustaceans like shrimp, crabs, or copepods, and small mollusks like gastropods and bivalves, which it crushes with its powerful jaw equipped with thick teeth.
More rarely, it feeds on small fish.
Did you know ?
The bandtail puffer is listed as many other marine species within The IUCN Red List of threatened species. The bandtail puffer appears in the IUCN Red List since 2014 within the category Least Concern !
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri)
The bandtail puffer (Sphoeroides spengleri) ©  | Dreamstime.com
Within the same genus
Checkered puffer (Sphoeroides testudineus)
Checkered puffer
(Sphoeroides testudineus)
Within the same family
Valentin's sharpnose puffer (Canthigaster valentini)
Valentin's sharpnose puffer
(Canthigaster valentini)
White-spotted puffer (Arothron hispidus)
White-spotted puffer
(Arothron hispidus)
Blackspotted puffer (Arothron nigropunctatus)
Blackspotted puffer
(Arothron nigropunctatus)
Starry pufferfish (Arothron stellatus)
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(Arothron stellatus)
Immaculate pufferfish (Arothron immaculatus)
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Masked puffer (Arothron diadematus)
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(Arothron diadematus)
Narrow lined pufferfish (Arothron manilensis)
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(Arothron manilensis)
Pearl toby (Canthigaster margaritata)
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(Canthigaster margaritata)
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The marine species from northwestern Atlantic ocean
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