Puffer

Upper side brown with large dark grey to black spots and light (pale blue or green in fresh specimens) irregular-shaped reticulations. Lower side with an irregular row of dusky to black rounded spots. The axil spot the most intense in the series. Sexually mature, ripe males sometimes covered with brilliant red or orange spots of about 1 mm in diameter (white in preserved specimen). No lappets on head or body (Ref 53033).

Oviparous (Ref. 101750).

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8; Analspines: 0; Analsoft rays: 7

Inhabits bays, estuaries and protected coastal waters. Feeds primarily on shellfish, also on some finfish (Ref. 3821).

fisheries: subsistence fisheries

The southern puffer (Sphoeroides nephelus) is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, and possibly further south on the coast of Brazil.