🐠 Stars & Stripes Pufferfish (Arothron hispidus)
Star-Like Spots Above, Stripes Below • Intelligent and Interactive • A Big, Characterful Puffer
 
📋 The Stars & Stripes Pufferfish, also known as the White-Spotted Puffer, has a distinctive greenish-tan-to-grey body covered above with small white spots resembling stars, and marked below with horizontal stripes completing its namesake pattern. It's native to a vast range across the Indo-Pacific, the Red Sea, and Hawaii, where it inhabits coral reefs, tide pools, mangrove swamps, seagrass beds, and estuaries.
It's easy to confuse with our Reticulated Pufferfish (Arothron reticularis), but the pattern tells them apart: on the Stars & Stripes the spots sit on the upper half and the stripes on the lower half (top-to-bottom), while on the Reticulated the stripes are at the front and the spots at the back. Like other members of the Arothron genus, it's known for its intelligence and personality, quickly learning to recognise its keeper and often becoming one of the most interactive fish in the tank, even appearing to beg for food. It isn't reef safe: it will consume invertebrates found in the aquarium using its fused, beak-like teeth.
It grows very large, up to about 45-50cm in the wild, and we recommend a minimum of 180 to 300 gallons for a fully grown adult, so please plan the tank before you choose one. Like all pufferfish, it carries tetrodotoxin, which makes it toxic if eaten, so never eat a pufferfish, and wash your hands after tank maintenance. A severely stressed puffer can release toxin into the water, so use a rigid container and not a net for transfers.
 
💡 Highlights
⭐ Star-Spotted Body With Horizontal Stripes: An iconic, distinctive pufferfish
🔍 Easy to Tell From the Reticulated: Spots above, stripes below
😊 Personable: Known for recognising its keeper and begging for food
📏 Grows Very Large: Up to about 50cm, so plan the tank size from the start
🌿 Not Reef Safe: Will eat small fish and invertebrates