Stellate puffer
Amazing fact
Young stellate puffers are orange, and their dark stripes break into spots as they grow.
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Young stellate puffers are orange, and their dark stripes break into spots as they grow.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Stellate puffer
- Scientific name
- Arothron stellatus
- Japanese name
- モヨウフグ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Tetraodontiformes
- Family
- Tetraodontidae
- Genus
- Arothron
Where the name “Stellate puffer” comes from
Stellatus in its scientific name means starry and refers to the star-shaped prickles on its body.
Museums VictoriaIn Japan it is found mainly around the Ryukyu Islands, and it lives widely from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific.
Black spots crowd almost its whole body, so the white skin between them looks like a net.
How the Stellate puffer lives
Young fish favor estuaries where rivers meet the sea, and coastal reefs. They eat seabed animals such as sea urchins, crabs and sponges. Adults live in clear lagoons and reefs facing the open sea.
Museums VictoriaBasic data
- Range
- Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean, and elsewhere
Where the Stellate puffer has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- モヨウフグ
- 简体中文
- 星斑叉鼻鲀
- 繁體中文
- 星斑叉鼻魨
- 한국어
- 꺼끌복
- Español
- Botete estrellado
- Français
- Ballon Constellé
- Deutsch
- Riesenkugelfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-balão-estrelado
- Italiano
- Pesce palla stellato
- العربية
- ينفوخ نجمي
- Русский
- Аротрон звездчатый
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — モヨウフグChecked: 2026-11-04
- Museums Victoria — Starry Puffer, Arothron stellatus (Bloch & Schneider 1801)Checked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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