''Canthigaster aziz'', known as Aziz's toby, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of pufferfish in the family

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 was described in 2020 by Keiichi Matsuura, Sergey V. Bogorodsky, Ahmad O. Mal, and Tilman J. Alpermann based on a single specimen collected from the northern

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 ...

off of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. It was trawled from a depth of 315 m (1033 ft), which is reportedly the second highest depth at which any fish of the genus ''

Canthigaster ''Canthigaster'' is a genus in the pufferfish family (Tetraodontidae). A fish from this genus is sometimes referred to as a "toby" (a generally accepted name that originated in Australia) or a "sharpnose puffer". Species There are currently 37 ...

'' has been collected. The only known specimen measures 2 cm (0.8 inches) SL. The species was named after the

King Abdulaziz University King Abdulaziz University (KAU) ( ar, جامعة الملك عبد العزيز) is a public university in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With over 117,096 students in 2022, it is the largest university in the country. Located in south Jeddah, the univ ...

. It is thought to have been collected over a hard substrate as the trawling gear used to collect it was severely damaged during operation. Evolutionarily, ''C. aziz'' belongs to a unique and newly discovered lineage of ''Canthigaster'', being phylogenetically distinct from all of its congeners.

References

Taxa named by Keiichi Matsuura Taxa named by Sergey V. Bogorodsky Taxa named by Ahmad O. Mal Taxa named by Tilman J. Alpermann Fish described in 2020

aziz Aziz ( ar, عزيز, , is an Arabic male name. The feminine form of both the adjective and the given name is Aziza. ''Aziz'' in Arabic is derived from the root ''ʕ-z-z'' with a meaning of "strong, powerful" and the adjective has acquired its m ...

Fish of the Red Sea {{Tetraodontiformes-stub