SPECIES INFO
Golden puffer or guineafowl puffer (Arothron meleagris) is found from eastern Africa in the Indian Ocean east to Japan and then further east in the Pacific Ocean to Mexico, Panama, and Ecuador. There is a picture on page 2179 in the Burgess-Axelrod series on Pacific marine fish that shows a black specimen covered with medium sized white spots. There is a drawing in Lieske that shows a brown fish covered with very numerous tiny pale spots.The pufferfish (Family tetraodontidae) are a group of marine fish that includes about 120 species spread among about 20 genera. These fish have the ability to expand their body size. When expanded, it is presumed that makes these fish harder to swallow. These fish are scaleless, but the body may bear some sharp pointed thorns.
Tetraodont (Tetraodontifomes) order contains the trigger fish, ocean sunfish, and the puffer fish.
Bony fish, Class Teleostomi, are a class of chordates that include the majority of fish-like animals found on earth. They are characterized by a bony jaw and a bony skeleton. They are found in both fresh and marine waters.
Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.
Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.
Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.