Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; brackish; demersal; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243). Subtropical
Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea, South Africa, Australia. Introduced (Lessepsian) in eastern Mediterranean, Israel, Lebanon, Iskenderun, Mersin, Aegean Sea.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 37.4 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 96317); 43.1 cm TL (female); common length : 25.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5450); max. published weight: 1.1 kg (Ref. 127374)
Essentially an inhabitant of marine waters, but enters the mouths of rivers (Ref. 4833). Several organs are very toxic, potentially lethal to humans (Ref. 43448).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Tortonese, E., 1979. Tetraodontidae. p. 645-646. In J.C. Hureau and Th. Monod (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and of the Mediterranean (CLOFNAM). UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1. (Ref. 2730)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
Fisheries: of no interest
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
123201): 21.4 - 28.4, mean 26.8 °C (based on 1189 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5005 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.02188 (0.01728 - 0.02770), b=2.87 (2.83 - 2.91), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref.
93245).
Trophic level (Ref.
69278): 3.7 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref.
120179): Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Low to moderate vulnerability (33 of 100).