''Arothron multilineatus'', the multilined pufferfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Tetraodontidae 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, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

. It is an uncommon fish and is known only from four specimens from

Pagbilao Pagbilao, officially the Municipality of Pagbilao ( tgl, Bayan ng Pagbilao), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Quezon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 78,700 people. It is located on the northern ...

in the Philippines, although photographs of individuals in the Ryukyu Islands, Mozambique and the Red Sea show that it has a wide distribution. It was first described by the Japanese

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Keiichi Matsuura in 2016.

Description

The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

of ''A. multilineatus'' has ten to eleven soft rays and the anal fin has nine to eleven. The body is covered with small spinules except around the eyes and mouth, the gill openings, the fin bases and the sides of the caudal peduncle. This fish grows to a maximum length of . It is characterised by having narrow white convoluted linear markings on a deep greenish-brown background. It is similar in appearance to another rare species, ''

Arothron carduus ''Arothron carduus'' is a ray-finned fish in the Family (biology), family Tetraodontidae. It is an uncommon species and is native to the tropical and sub-tropical Indo-Pacific region. Description This species is characterised by having narrow ...

'', which has narrow dark-coloured convoluted lines on a white background.

Distribution and habitat

''A. multilineatus'' is found at depths of between on sandy seabeds in the Ryukyu Islands. Underwater photographs from there, Mozambique and the Red Sea, and documentary evidence from the Philippines, indicate that it has a wide distribution.

Controversy

Pufferfish in the genus ''

Arothron ''Arothron'' is a genus in the pufferfish family Tetraodontidae found in warm parts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. These species are sometimes kept in aquaria. The largest species is ''A. stellatus'', which can reach in length. Spe ...

'' are common in the shallow tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific region. These fish have been extensively photographed and studied, but this large distinctive fish was not described until 2016, the author basing his findings on four specimens from the Philippines and photographs of two specimens from the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. This raises the question of why such a sizeable fish had not been observed before; a certain minimum population size would have had to exist for the species to be viable. An alternative hypothesis is that this might not be a valid species at all, but might be an unusually patterned hybrid, perhaps a cross between '' A. hispidus'' and '' A. stellatus''. The description was made on the basis of the markings alone, and the confusion will be resolved when a taxonomic revision is done on this genus, including a genetic study.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:pufferfish, multilined multilined pufferfish Fish of the Philippines Taxa named by Keiichi Matsuura multilined pufferfish