''Lagocephalus inermis'', known as the smooth blaasop, 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 ...

native to the Indo-Pacific. It is a marine species that ranges from Algoa Bay in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

to southern Japan, where it occurs at a depth range of 10 to 200 m (33 to 656 ft) and inhabits the edge of the continental shelf. It is a very large pufferfish, reaching 90 cm (35.4 inches) SL. It closely resembles the Atlantic species ''

Lagocephalus laevigatus ''Lagocephalus laevigatus'', known as the smooth puffer, is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to the Western Atlantic, where it ranges from New England to Argentina, as well as the Eastern Atlantic, where it range ...

'', but it can be distinguished from that species by its black gill opening. Additionally, it does not overlap in range with ''L. laevigatus''. It is reported to be demersal and oviparous.

References

Tetraodontidae Lagocephalus Fish described in 1850 {{Tetraodontiformes-stub