The first substantiated record of blunthead puffer Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller and Troschel, 1848), from the coast of northern Cyprus (eastern Mediterranean)

Abstract

Blunthead puffer Sphoeroides pachygaster (Müller and Troschel, 1848) is acircumglobally distributed Tetraodontid found in temperate and tropical waters. It isbelieved to have colonized the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. There arerelatively few records of this fish in the Mediterranean Sea. On March 2020, a maturefemale individual was caught incidentally by a commercial fisher in Northern Cyprus. Thefish was 520 mm in total length and 1200 grams in total weight. Detailed morphometricsand meristics were reported. This study is the first substantiated record of S. pachygasterfrom Cyprus waters, and the specimen is the largest blunthead puffer reported with a 455mm standard length and 520 mm total length.