Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, toadle, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines. The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the hard shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.
Tetraodon is a genus in the pufferfish family (Tetraodontidae) found in freshwater in Africa. It is the type genus of the family and historically included numerous other species; several Asian species were moved to the genera Dichotomyctere, Leiodon and Pao in 2013.
Helicolenus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Scorpaenidae where they are classified within the subfamily Sebastinae, the rockfishes. The species in this genus are found in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Murina is a genus of vesper bats. They are found throughout temperate and tropical regions of Asia.
Takifugu rubripes, commonly known as the Japanese puffer, Tiger puffer, or torafugu, is a pufferfish in the genus Takifugu. It is distinguished by a very small genome that has been fully sequenced because of its use as a model species and is in widespread use as a reference in genomics.
Pao palembangensis, is a species of freshwater pufferfish native to Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia in Southeast Asia. Its commonly called the humpback puffer or dragon puffer. It is bred for aquaria as an ornamental fish because of its beautiful skin colouration and pattern.
Vargula hilgendorfii, sometimes called the sea-firefly and one of three bioluminescent species known in Japan as umi-hotaru (海蛍), is a species of ostracod crustacean. It is the only member of genus Vargula to inhabit Japanese waters; all other members of its genus inhabit the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and waters off the coast of California. V. hilgendorfii was formerly more common, but its numbers have fallen significantly.
Franz Martin Hilgendorf was a German zoologist and paleontologist. Hilgendorf's research on fossil snails from the Steinheim crater in the early 1860s became a palaeontological evidence for the theory of evolution published by Charles Darwin in 1859.
Pao is a genus of mostly freshwater pufferfish with one species also occurring in brackish water. They are found in Southeast Asia. Until 2013, its species were generally placed in Tetraodon.
Helicolenus hilgendorfii, Hilgendorf's saucord, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Sebastinae, part of the family Scorpaenidae. It is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The diamondback puffer is a species of pufferfish in the genus Lagocephalus.
Canthigaster punctatissima, known as the spotted sharpnose puffer or the spotted sharpnosed puffer, is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to the Eastern Pacific, where it ranges from Guaymas, Mexico to Panama and the Galápagos Islands. It is replaced by its close relatives C. janthinoptera and C. jactator in the Western Pacific and the Hawaiian Islands, respectively. It is found in sheltered areas of rocky reefs at a depth range of 3 to 21 m and reaches 9 cm in total length. The species is reported to be monogamous.
Carinotetraodonborneensis, sometimes known as the Bornean red-eye puffer, is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a tropical freshwater species known only from southern Sarawak, Malaysia. It reaches 4.4 cm SL and is sometimes seen in the aquarium trade.
Pao bergii is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a tropical freshwater fish native to the Kapuas River drainage of Borneo in Indonesia.
Pao brevirostris is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a tropical freshwater species native to Asia, where it is known from the Mekong basin and the Chao Phraya drainage. It inhabits marshes and swamps with dense aquatic plant cover, and the species is known to frequently hide between roots and among submerged foliage. Males of the species reach 9.5 cm SL, with females reaching 7.7 cm SL.
Pao fangi is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a tropical freshwater species native to Vietnam. It was classified as a member of the genus Tetraodon until 2013, when the genus Pao was created.
Pao ocellaris is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a tropical freshwater species native to Asia, where it is known from the Malay Peninsula. It was included in the genus Tetraodon until 2013.
Pao palustris is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It was described in 2013 as Tetraodon palustris by Pasakorn Saenjundaeng, Chavalit Vidthayanon, and Chaiwut Grudpan from the Mekong basin of Thailand. FishBase lists this species as a synonym of Pao brevirostris, although ITIS lists Pao palustris as a valid species.
Takifugu chrysops is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a marine species known from Japan, where it ranges from Tosa Bay to Tokyo Bay. It is a demersal fish that reaches 20 cm SL. Although sometimes known as the red-eyed puffer, this can lead to confusion with several freshwater species of the genus Carinotetraodon.
Takifugu ocellatus, sometimes known as the ocellated puffer or the orange-saddle puffer, is a species of anadromous pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to China and Vietnam. Juveniles of the species occur in brackish and freshwater environments, but adults are marine. This species is noted to be fatally poisonous to humans if consumed. It reaches 15 cm in total length.
