Abyss’ Pufferfish could be a Dog Face x White Spotted Hybrid

Stockport’s Abyss Aquatic Warehouse is listing what could be a cross between two saltwater pufferfish species.

At first glance, we thought the fish was a golden/aberrant form of the Guineafowl puffer, Arothron meleagris, but we received a tipoff from an exporter in the Philippines (who wasn’t involved in its supply,) who thinks that, based on looks alone, it could be a cross between a Dogface Puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus, and a White Spotted Puffer, Arothron hispidus. And what’s more, there are two of them.

Origin

The Abyss told Reefkeeping News “They were collected from the Pacific Ocean rather than the Indian Ocean. They’re commonly still called meleagris (Guineafowl puffers,) but they have that more pale blue colour and larger white spots compared to the Indian Ocean.” 

According to Fishbase, Arothron meleagris comes from the Indo-Pacific: East Africa south to Durban, South Africa and east to Panama, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to Lord Howe and Easter islands. As well as the Eastern Pacific: Guaymas, Mexico to Ecuador.

Arothron nigropunctatus comes from the Indo-Pacific: East Africa to Micronesia and Samoa, north to southern Japan, and south to New South Wales. It is replaced by Arothron diadematus in the Red Sea.

And Arothron hispidus comes from the Indo-Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to Panama, north to southern Japan and the Hawaiian Islands, south to Lord Howe and Rapa islands. Eastern Pacific: Baja California and the Gulf of California to Panama.

So apart from in the Red Sea, all three species have a huge, almost circumtropical range and cross over and cohabit in many areas. They breed in the same way, and they are all in the same genus i.e. they are related.

Possible hybrids 

In 2017, P. Bourjon and B. Chanet wrote a paper on two cases of probable hybridisation between Arothron meleagris and A. nigropunctatus on a fringing reef at Réunion Island. But Reunion sits in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius, not the Pacific. 

One year earlier in 2016, new species Arothron multilineatus was described from the Red Sea and Japan, although some question the validity, and it doesn’t look like our featured fish either. So for now, the jury is out. Geographic variant of the Guineafowl puffer? Guineafowl x Dogface hybrid? Or Dogface x Whitespotted Puffer hybrid?

Both fish are on sale as WYSIWYG on Abyss’ website, both are 12-15cm in length, and both are on sale for £349.00. Buy one and you get a really cool, unusually marked Dogface or Guineafowl puffer. But you may also be inadvertently investing in something much rarer… 

https://www.abyssaquatics.co.uk/product/wysiwyg-2-2/#

https://www.abyssaquatics.co.uk/product/wysiwyg-3-2

Citation

Bourjon, P., & Chanet, B. (2017). Two cases of probable hybridisation between the pufferfishes Arothron meleagris (Anonymous 1798) and A. nigropunctatus (Bloch and Schneider 1801) on a fringing reef at Réunion Island. African Journal of Marine Science, 39(4), 503–507. https://doi.org/10.2989/1814232X.2017.1393005 ​​

Image credits

Totti, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sébastien Stradal, CC BY-SA

Guido and Carrara family, CC BY 2.0

Abyss Aquatic Warehouse