The Starry Pufferfish (Arothron stellatus) is a very large pufferfish which grows up to 120 cm (47 in) in length. This week our team was lucky enough to encounter this beautiful fish on one of our Reef Protection Days. Its body is oval-shaped, spherical and relatively elongated. The skin is not covered with scales but is prickly. The fins on the Starry Pufferfish are small, symmetric, and located at the rear end of the body. The head is large with a short snout that has two pairs of nostrils, and the mouth is terminal with four strong teeth.
The background colouration goes from white to grey, and the body is dotted with black spots. The size of the spots is inversely proportional to the size of the fish, meaning a young individual will have large spots and adults of maximal size will have small spots. The juveniles have a yellowish body background colouration with dark stripes. The young adults still have stripes on the ventral area that will turn to spots later, and also some recollection of yellow on the body.
With over 1600 species of fish found on the Great Barrier Reef come and join Ocean Rafting to experience the incredible diversity of the GBR for yourself!
