The Puffer Forum

I found a puffer that looks be a schoutedeni but wanted the confirmation of the experts. It is over 3 inches long and at first, I thought it had ich since I noticed little bumps on the body. Upon closer inspection, it seems that these bumps are evenly spaced across the back and sides of the puffer so it is likely little spines that stick out when the puff. The belly is white or off white and also looks to be bumpy, not smooth. It was hard to see with the poor lighting but it seems it also has little spines on its belly but rather than looking bumpy, it looks like they are laid flat. I am tempted to pick it up but want a positive ID as to which species it may be. I snapped a few pics...sorry they are not the best but if you look at the close ups, you can see the bumps on the body.

Looks like a GSP to me, but then I'm not an expert at all, so don't take my word for it. I'm saying this because the one in the photos seems to have a bright patch on the head (?) and the tail is shorter, has some dark stripes, and is not yellow. I believe you se a true schoutedeni in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnaWhPp7tP0

That is a GSP. Schoutedeni has a VISIBLE long spines on it's belly. Also does not turn the bright yellow, like a GSP.

Appreciate the quick response. Thank you for identifying this one as a GSP. A GSP is a tetraodon nigroviridis right?...I always get these names mixed up. In fact, it's very confusing to ID these as my best guess would have been T. fluviatilis based on the body shape according to this site:
http://puffernet.tripod.com/confusion.html

I was also intrigued by the amount of spines this particular specimen had. I have never seen such obvious and pronounced spines all over the body before. It also seems there are spines on the belly. I thought these might be signs of a schoutedeni. Do nigroviridis and fluviatilis also have noticeable spines?

Thx

Sorry about the black line comment, I meant to refer to their log spines. The bright yellow on it's head, is actually the dead giveaway that it's a GSP.

Wow that site is stupid. Lots of wrong information! This is a fluviatilis:

It needs the same requirements as a gsp. Both need full marine to live healthy.

hadla wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:50 pm Wow that site is stupid. Lots of wrong information! This is a fluviatilis:

yikes....it's so confusing!! If what you have in your pic is a fluviatilis, then that site I was looking at is way off. If I had to guess, I'd think yours was a Tetraodon biocellatus, or figure 8 puffer. Now, check out that schoutedeni on Aquabid for $200 right now. It looks like a gsp based on everyone's description.

I'm sure this has be rehashed a bunch of times but in order to put this to rest one more time, can someone please offer a simple synopsis or description of how to tell schoutedeni, fluviatilis, nigroviridis apart? Please. There isn't a lot of good info at all online and that site I found seemed to do the best job until you mentioned that their pictures and/or descriptions are incorrect. I'm sure it'll help a lot of folks and a lot of puffers get the right care

We had a really wonderful Pufferpedia here, with profiles & great photos of all the puffers in confusion. Unfortunately, when the site was upgraded, we lost all the photos. You can still find the profiles archived, at the bottom of the Forum page.

The puffers in the first post are GSPs.

Lately there have been imports of T. schoutedeni, but I still fail to see "VISIBLE long spines " on them (I also never saw them in the past). I would not use them for differentiation. The colors alone are very different and if you are still uncertain look at the narines. GSPs have oval flaps on a small stalk, while T. schoutedeni have pointed flaps just like a fahaka or mbu.

LOL, that's what is says in Dr Ebert's book!

I have this book here in the untranslated original and can't find this statement. Maybe you can point me to the page and paragraph. Even if this statement is found in the book, it's still wrong and none of the pictures in the book of T. schoutedeni shows "VISIBLE long spines". Also have a look at the dozens of new pictures on the net: no long spines visible.

Maybe it was RTR that told me this then.