Lagocephalus lunaris ( Bloch and Schneider, 1801 )

Veeruraj, Anguchamy, Arumugam, Muthuvel, Ajithkumar, Thangappan & Balasubramanian, Thangavel, 2011, Distribution of Tetraodontiformes (Family: Tetraodontidae) along the Parangipettai Coast, Southeast coast of India, Zootaxa 3015, pp. 1-12 : 3

Lagocephalus lunaris ( Bloch and Schneider, 1801)

Green toad fish or Rough backed blowfish ( Fig.2).

Tetraodon lunaris

Lagocephalus lunaris lunaris Sphoeroides lunaris

Common names. Lunar tail puffer, Green bough backed blowfish, Moon tail blaasop and Head rabbit puffer. Habitat. Demersal, brackish and marine waters and Oceanodromous.

Colour. Head and body is yellowish dark green above dorsal region; A wide silvery yellow band running longitudinally along mid-lateral body from mouth to caudal fin base; ventral surface is milky white. Geographical distribution. Widely distributed in the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and extending north to Japan (Masuda et al., 1984).

Description of species. Dorsal rays (total): 11–12; Pectoral soft spines: 17–18; Anal soft spines: 10–11; Caudal soft spines: 8–9.

Body elongated with broad head; dorsal profile convex; prickles cover extend from interorbital space to origin of dorsal fin and from below anterior margin of eye to front of anus; eyes are large and rounded with free orbital margin on lower side; interorbital space is broad with flat nasal organ and a short papilla with 2 large openings. A skin fold or keel arise from below mouth to middle of caudal fin base; dorsal and anal fins set far back on body; origin of anal fin below anterior region of dorsal fin; caudal fin lunate and caudal peduncle compressed, deeper than wide.

Biology and fishery. Epibenthic, mainly marine, occasionally enters estuaries. Length ranged from - 4.5 to 55 cm SL; generally caught with trawls.

Remarks. This species differs from the closely related Lagocephalus inermis by the presence of spiny prickles on its dorsal surface. In L. inermis , the gill opening is internally black whereas it is not in L. lunaris .

This species is not edible as its flesh is believed to be poisonous but commonly used as aquarium fishes.