Species: Colomesus psittacus, Banded puffer
Colomesus psittacus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
Banded (parrot) puffer
Body stout, inflatable; snout short, bluntly pointed; mouth with a heavy beak, composed of two teeth on upper and lower jaws; nasal organs consist of 2 holes before eyes; dorsal, anal and tail fins rounded; dorsal and anal fins with 10-12 rays; pectoral fins 17-19 rays; no pelvic fins; tough, thick scaleless skin, prickles on upper and lower head and body; no skin flaps on body.
Color: light green to yellowish brown above; 5-6 marked, uniform dark bars on upper half of body and across back, 1st across eyes, last on base of tail; lower body and tail base whitish.
Reaches 35 cm
In brackish and marine habitats, occasionally in freshwater.
Depth range 0-32 m?
The SE Caribbean to Brazil.
Note: C. asellus, a freshwater species found in the same areas as C. psittacus, is similarly colored, but with the underside of the tail base black.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Brackish
- Freshwater
- Inshore/Offshore
-
- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
-
- Bottom
- Habitat
-
- Mud
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Freshwater
- Estuary
- Mangrove
- FishBase Habitat
-
- Demersal
- Feeding Group
-
- Data
- Carnivore
- Diet
-
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Egg Type
-
- No data
- Benthic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
-
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent only
- Also in Brazil
- GC non-endemic
- Extends South of GC
- Continent
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- IUCN Red List
-
- Listed
- Least concern
- CITES
-
- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 35
- Depth Range Min
-
- 0
- Depth Range Max
-
- 32
