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| Prickly toadfish | ||||||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
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| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Contusus richei (Fréminville, 1813) |
The prickly toadfish, Contusus richei, is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, found in the eastern Indian Ocean and the southwest Pacific Ocean, at depths down to 50 m. Its length is up to 25 cm.
The prickly toadfish has the typical rounded smooth shape of the pufferfishes, with squared-off fins. The single dorsal and anal fins are mirror images of each other and are set well back towards the caudal fin. Both the head and the body are densely covered with small spines giving the skin a sandpaper-like texture. The eyes are large and set well forward, above the tiny mouth with its fused teeth. Most parts of the fish contains poison and should not be eaten.
They feed on a variety of crustaceans, molluscs, and echinoderms.
Colouration is grey-brown on the back and flanks with a scattering of large dark spots, and white on the belly.
References
- "Contusus richei". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. May 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
