Green Spotted Puffer

1 Species Overview

The green spotted puffer is a pufferfish living in near-coastal freshwater or brackish water, with a very special look. Its English name is shortened to GSP; adults are about 10 to 18 cm and are classed as brackish-water fish. Chinese name: green spotted puffer. Kingdom: Animalia. English name: Green puffer. Class: Actinopterygii. Species: Tetraodon nigroviridis. Also known as: green spotted puffer, small torpedo, golden boy, spotted green puffer, depth-charge fish.

2 Appearance and Physical Traits

The green spotted puffer’s shape and color are very special; its body color darkens or lightens with mood or health. It is fairly gentle but also aggressive, so do not mix it with other fish, shrimp, or snails.

Adults are about 10 to 18 cm, with a horizontally elongated oval body, a thick round head, and a pair of bulging bright eyes with mostly black pupils that can also look blue or green. The skin is smooth and scaleless. The fins are semi-transparent, with no pelvic fins; the caudal peduncle is vertically flat and fans out, and it swims only with the pectoral and small dorsal and anal fins, flapping fast but not built for speed. Above the pectoral line (including the back) the skin is golden (greenish) with black round spots like leopard print; below (including the belly) the skin is plain white. The forehead has a bright golden (fluorescent green) patch. Body color in water changes depth with mood or health.

3 Habitat and Living Environment

As a juvenile the green spotted puffer likes freshwater, but as it matures it needs more salt, moving to higher-density water.

The small torpedo is a mini puffer of tropical brackish water. Brackish water is the river mouth where freshwater meets seawater, the divide between freshwater and marine fish. Tides and river flow keep its density changing constantly. Water with specific gravity 1.002 to 1.018 is brackish. Most fish cannot bear such swings, so few fish live at river mouths.

The small torpedo has a natural ability to fight osmosis that most fish lack, letting it move freely among fresh, brackish, and marine water with no limit. But in captivity you must copy its brackish home; long-term fresh or marine water will slowly drain its vigor and even kill it fast.

4 Feeding Guidelines

Feed the green spotted puffer shrimp, snails, shellfish, bloodworms, small fish, etc. Note it hardly takes prepared pellets, so watch this.

The green spotted puffer is carnivorous with sharp teeth that easily crush the hard shells of crustaceans and mollusks to eat the meat; it also hunts small fish and lugworms. Though small, it will nip others’ fins, attack small fish, and especially likes biting the tails of other fish and even its own kind. Its esophagus is also specially built.