Arothron meleagris, commonly known as the guineafowl puffer or golden puffer, is a pufferfish from the Indo-Pacific, and Eastern Pacific. It is occasionally harvested for the aquarium trade. It reaches 50 cm in length.
Guineafowl puffers have heavy rounded bodies that are uniformly black with numerous small white spots (black puffer or botete negro), bright yellow spots (golden puffer or botete dorado) or a mixture of the two morphologies with bright yellow spots and black patches. They have large blunt heads with short snouts and are equipped with a set of massive teeth. They have small and similarly shaped anal and dorsal fins that are well back on their body. Their caudal fin base is long and deep and their caudal fin is rounded. Their body is covered with small denticles that resemble coarse sandpaper. When this fish is scared or frightened, they inflate and make themselves larger, exposing the denticles.
Physical characteristics
The most extensive study done of the color patterning of Arothron meleagris is by Jinxiang and Tyler in 1986. In this study, A. meleagris has three distinctive color variations. The first most common color variation that it possesses is a background color consisting of dark brown with many white, and much less commonly, black or dark brown, spots on its whole body. The spots located on the rear of A. meleagris are more minuscule compared to the spots on its sides, a characteristic that is especially prevalent on those that are located in the Indian Ocean. A majority of the specimens of A. meleagris have pale fins that are dark brown in color with white spots not unlike to the ones found on its body. Additionally, the width of its pectoral fin can vary differently for each pufferfish, with some possessing a dark brown color on the bottom base half of the pectoral fin.
Another color variation it possesses that is as common is a yellow background color covered with black spots around its body. In regards to its fins, Jinxiang and Tyler note that "The distal edges of the dorsal, anal, and pectoral fins are whitish, while more basally these fins are yellow, with the rays light brownish toward the more distal portion of the basal region.". Additionally, the caudal fin is either yellow or a mix of yellow and light brown, with the areas near its gills having a light brown color.
The third color variation is a mix of the two patterns. A portion of A. meleagris''' back in the third color variation is brown in color, scattered with unique white spots while its sides, belly and head are yellow in color covered with several black spots There are light brown patches on its mouth, gill openings and on the bottom bases of the dorsal and caudal fins, both of which are covered with white spots. The color yellow also makes up its anal and pectoral fins, with a light brown color covering its rays. Some of the other instances of the third color variation include the heads and bodies of A. meleagris being bright yellow in color while its fins are covered in brown and scattered with white spots.
In a study done by Jinxiang and Tyler, with around 124 specimens of A. meleagris examined, 79% of them are found to possess the first pattern, with 11% having the third pattern and 10% of them being found to have the second pattern. Based on the sample size, the study indicates that the first pattern is the most common color variation found in them, followed by the third and then the second pattern being the rarest.
Apart from the three most common color variations, there exists several other rarer color patterns found in A. meleagris. In a report done by Hector Reyes Bonilla and Arturo Hernandez-Velasco an abnormal specimen of A. meleagris was found at Cabo Pulma Reef, in the southwestern gulf of California, Mexico. White spots, a common characteristic across the bodies of the Arothron meleagris, was not found in the abnormal specimen. Instead, the specimen displayed a color variation of white lines across a black-purple background Other features of the specimen include a circular black line around its eye, a black belly and a white reticula. Additionally, its posterior area contained a white line while both its dorsal and anal fin had black stripes over a yellow background.