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Spider-eye puffer
Canthigaster amboinensis
Valid name (FishBase; confirmed in Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes and WoRMS, October 2026).
- English
- Spider-eye puffer
- Scientific
- Canthigaster amboinensis
- Dhivehi
- Haluvi thaakihaa koli
- Group
- Reef fish
- Maximum size
- Up to about 15 cm (total length) (FishBase); MRS 1997 gives common to 8 cm; max. 15 cm
- Depth and habitat
- Coral reefs and reef-associated habitats, recorded from 1 to 16 m
- IUCN status
- LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2011
Description
A small sharpnose puffer, brown above and whitish below, with small pale blue spots, dark spots on the lower sides and blue lines radiating from the eye. It lives in shallow surge zones on outer reefs, where it feeds on algae and small animals. Its skin contains a repellent toxin.
In the Maldives
Dhivehi Wikipedia (MRS-derived) gives haluvi thaakihaa koli, which the article says was coined because no traditional name was recorded.
Sources
- fishbase.se /summary/Canthigaster-amboinensis.html
- fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
- commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Canthigaster_amboinensis_Réunion_2.jpg
Dhivehi name source: M.R.S. (1997) Fishes of the Maldives (FAO/BOBP MAG/21) gives 'Haluvi thaakihaa koli' (Latin form). FishBase also lists 'Thundigu-koli' under India (Minicoy/Lakshadweep Mahl dialect); not used.