Author: Gmelin, 1789

Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789

Diagnosis: dorsal finrays III + 1-3, 26-28; anal finrays 2, 22-24; second dorsal with 3-4 anterior rays as separate filaments in adults. Scales in median, horizontal series 60-61. Colour: grey with many brown or blue , spots; a large, brown blotch usually present on upper caudal base. Size: 45 cm SL.

Habitat: above sandy and rocky bottoms, at 20-30 m. Food: crabs and bivalves. Reproduction: no data.

Distribution: Madeira. Elsewhere, on both sides of Atlantic (from Spanish Sahara to Angola and from Rhode I. to Brazil).

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Aboussouan, 1966: 279, fig. 46.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Tetraodontiformes
Suborder Balistoidei
Family Balistidae
Genus Balistes
Species Balistes punctatus

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789

Scientific synonyms and common names

Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789

Synonyms:

Balistes forcipatus Lowe, 1837
Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789, Linn. Syst. Nat., ed. 13: 1472 (after 'stipvisch',in Nieuhof, 1682: 274-275. Locality not given).
Balistes forcipatus (not Gmelin, 1789): Fowler, 1936: 1086 Poll, 1959: 243, fig. 81, pl. 8 (fig. 1-2) Bauchot, 1966a: 33, pl. IVA.
Balistes punctatus: Moore, 1967a: 859, fig. 2-3.


Common names:

none

Bauchot, M.-L. 1966a. Poissons marins de l'Est Atlantique Tropical. Téléostéens Perciformes. II. Percoidei (3e partie). III. Acanthuroidei. IV. Balistoidei. Atlantide Rep., (9): 7-43, 8 fig., 5 pl.

Fowler, H. W. 1936. The Marine Fishes of West Africa, based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition 1909-1915. Bull. am. Mus. nat. Hist., 70 (1), Jan. 21, 1936: vii + 606 p., fig. 1-275; (2), Nov. 18, 1936: 607-1493, fig. 276-567.

Gmelin, J. F. 1789. Pisces in Caroli a Linné, Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Ed. XIII, 1(3): 1126-1516.

Moore, D. 1967a. Nomenclature of the spotted Triggerfish, Balistes punctatus, of the Eastern Atlantic. Copeia, (4): 858-861, 3 fig.

Poll, M. 1959. Poissons. V. Téléostéens Acanthoptérygiens (2e partie). Rés. Sci. Expéd. océanogr. belg. Eaux côt. afr. Atlant. Sud (1948-1949), 4 (3B): 417 p., 127 fig., 7 pl.

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