Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Description
- 📏 up to 50 cm
- 🌊 lagoons, reef slopes
The yellow puffer is not a different species: it is the golden-yellow form of the guineafowl puffer (Arothron meleagris), found mainly in Polynesia and the central Pacific. It can inflate its body with water to deter predators. Like all pufferfish, its flesh and organs contain tetrodotoxin, a very powerful poison: it is never eaten.
Did you know?
Dark and yellow individuals of the same species may be seen in the same lagoon, which often surprises divers. In Tahitian the dark form is called huehue ʻereʻere; the name of the yellow form is to be confirmed.
Source: TAXREF vernacular database
Tahitian names: generic name for pufferfish (name of the yellow form to be confirmed). French name: Tétrodon jaune.
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