The Puffer Forum

From the comments I'm starting to think it might be a DP, it might be that he is just slower to adopt the colouring from fry to mature than the others? He is still really small, I'd say slightly less than 1/2 inch. I guess time will tell though, I think it would be much easier to identify him in a month's time, and if isn't a DP, he should be getting much bigger than the others

Did you check out the different DP pics in the Pufferpedia?

I did check out the other pics and he doesn't look like them, there is quite a bit of variation in looks in my other DPs as well (mostly male to female), but none look like this one. The main reason I think this might still be a DP is in the other features, the eyes, tail, mouth and belly all look exactly like on the other DPs only the markings being the difference. So I am considering the possiblity that this one might have had some external factor affecting his markings, or maybe he really is just a weird looking DP, as you get some unusual individuals in any species I suppose it possible for pufffers too!

Will this help to ID

You've got some really cute DPs polishpuff! The other 4 I have look basically exactly the same as the ones in the pics you posted, along with the 'weird' one, except for his markings. The last picture you posted looks slightly more like him, but the brown is darker with bright gold lines running over his body. I does show that they do have quite a large amount of variation though.

After some research and you guys commenting I have come to the conclusion that its probably a DP. It just looks to much like a DP and too little like anything else, so I guess it was kind of a false alarm... As you can probably guess I spend quite a bit of time staring at my little fish, so I might have gotten a bit carried away.

Black gravel tends to do that to DPs - Emma is on a black substrate with green plants and looked very similar when young.