Arothron nigropunctatus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)

Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Kinch, Jeff, Mana, Ralph, Russell, Barry C., Tully, Dean & White, William T., 2019, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of New Ireland Province, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 810 new records, Zootaxa 4588 (1), pp. 1-360 : 332

Arothron nigropunctatus (Bloch & Schneider 1801) —Black-spotted puffer ( Fig. 176 )

Status at New Ireland. First recorded from New Ireland by De Vis (1884: 457); previously misidentified from New Ireland as Tetrodon immaculatus (non Bloch & Schneider 1801) by Peters (1877: 853). Specimens photographed in Kavieng region on 2–4 June 2013 during ACIAR Aquarium Survey ; a specimen photographed at Lissenung Island by Dietmar Amon on 10 June 2009; another photographed by Serge Andréfouët off the southern tip of Bauddisson Island , Kavieng District , St. KVG15, on 17 Aug. 2014; a video of a specimen taken off Nubilus Island, off southeastern New Hanover, at 3–32 m depth, St. KR 88, in 2014 (identified by Barry C. Russell).

Distribution and habitat. New Ireland: 1, 2.—General distribution: Red Sea, East and South Africa, Madagascar and Mascarenes east to Line and Tuamotu islands, north to Ryukyu and Ogasawara islands, south to New South Wales ( Australia) and New Caledonia. Found on coastal to seaward reef crest and slope habitats with rich invertebrate growth, 3–25 m depth. Marine.

Figures

FIGURE 176. Arothron nigropunctatus (Bloch & Schneider 1801), Lissenung Island, Kavieng District, 10 June 2009 (underwater photograph: Dietmar Amon).