The Puffer Forum

Thats cool!

That porc is pretty sweet looking and crazy expensive. I saw one of the comments said they thought it was dyed, but I don't believe it

I would love to take care of that little blue guy!

Wow Beautifull porcy

I'm not 100% convinced of the ID, yet. It is long known that baby Diodon hystrix are blueish, too (see e.g. Leis Diodontidae works). This may be one. Can be told apart in most cases by a count of anal fin rays, which is too blurry in the pictures to see exactly. I count 14 or 15, which is in the range of D. hystrix (14-16). D. eydouxii has 16-18. But really a better picture would be needed to be sure. Another character is the number of spines from lower jaw to anus (10-14), D. hystrix has more (14-20). You cannot count that on the 2 published pics, but generally I do have the impression it has a lot of spines (rather D. hystrix).

With proper pictures of the anal fin and the belly, I'm sure a definite ID is easy.

Diodon eydouxii as a pelagic species is not an ideal fish for the home aquarium.

Diodon hystrix is too large for most home aquariums.

I would not recommend this specimen to most hobbyists.

PS: An older thread on this topic: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9899&p=99987

different angles

Nice pics, but spines on the belly are hardly visible and the anal fin is blurry.

I still think it's dyed.

Looks cool tho. That fish dye must be expensive! Do they do a red? lol

Just found this artical, says that it's full name is a 'Blue Pelagic Porcupine puffer / Diodon eydouxii' and that the pic is of a juvenile. It grows to 1 ft long and looses most of its blue colour when it becomes an adult.
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/08/11/blue ... -eydouxii/

Arny wrote:different angles

blue porcy 3.JPG

blue porcy 4.JPG

blue porcy 5.JPG

I do have to point out these pics are taken under strong blue light. You can see the glare on the tank bottom and the puffers back, thus giving the impression that it is more blue than perhaps it naturally is.

I don't think it's dyed. Such puffers have truely been caught in nature. If they wanted to dye a puffer, they would have taken a young D. holocanthus, which are widely available. The one shown are much rarer: both juvenile D. hystrix and D. eydouxii (of all ages) are pelagic and not found in reefs where aquarium fish are usually caught. I doubt one would catch a very rare fish just to dye it.

@arny: I would not be so sure about the ID, see above.

Corvus wrote:@arny: I would not be so sure about the ID, see above.

Hey Corvus, what do you mean? not sure about the link I gave?