''Colomesus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

pufferfish 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 ...

es confined to tropical

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Apart from differences in size, the three species are superficially similar, being green above, white below, and patterned with black transverse bands across the dorsal surface. ''C. asellus'' is commonly found in the

aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

trade, while ''C. psittacus'', due to its size and more specialized requirements, is not found as often.

Species

There are currently three recognized species in this genus according to

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

and the

Catalog of Fishes Catalog of Fishes is a comprehensive on-line database and reference work on the scientific names of fish species and genera. It is global in its scope and is hosted by the California Academy of Sciences. It has been compiled and is continuously up ...

. * ''

Colomesus asellus ''Colomesus asellus'', the Amazon puffer, asellus puffer, South American freshwater puffer or Peruvian puffer is a species of pufferfish confined to the Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mytho ...

'' ( J. P. Müller &

Troschel Franz Hermann Troschel (10 October 1810 – 6 November 1882) was a German zoologist born in Spandau. He studied mathematics and natural history at the University of Berlin, where he was awarded his doctorate in 1834.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; ...

, 1849) (Amazon puffer) * '' Colomesus psittacus'' (

Bloch Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include: A–F * (1859-1914), French rabbi *Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881-1925), Austrian entrepreneur *Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter * (born 1972), German motor journal ...

& J. G. Schneider, 1801) (Banded puffer) * ''

Colomesus tocantinensis ''Colomesus tocantinensis'' is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is endemic to Brazil, where it inhabits the Tocantins River basin. It reaches a length of 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) SL. The species was described in 2013 by Ces ...

'' Amaral, Brito, Silva & Carvalho, 2013

References

External links

FishBase: ''C. psittacus''FishBase: ''C. asellus''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q740214 Tetraodontidae Freshwater fish genera Taxa named by Theodore Gill