Milkspot Toadfish, Chelonodon patoca (Hamilton-Buchanan 1822)

Other Names: Gangetic Blow Fish, Gangetic Pufferfish, Marbled Toad, Marbled Toado, Milkspotted Puffer, Milkspotted Toadfish, Milk-spotted Toadfish

A Milkspot Toadfish, Chelonodon patoca, in Hong Kong, August 2014. Source: Marie Raison / iNaturalist.org. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:

A greyish to brownish puffer with silvery-white lower sides, large round or oval white spots, dark bands on the head and body, a broad yellow patch below the pectoral fin, and a pale yellowish tail. Some authors refer to this species as Chelonodontops patoca.

Pufferfishes are poisonous and should never be eaten or fed to pets.

Video of a Milkspot Toadfish eating a crab.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2019, Chelonodon patoca in Fishes of Australia, accessed 18 Jan 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/862

Milkspot Toadfish, Chelonodon patoca (Hamilton-Buchanan 1822)

More Info

Distribution	Northern Australia from the Ashburton River, Western Australia, to Port Clinton, Queensland. Elsewhere the species occurs in the tropical, Indo-west Pacific, from East Africa to the Admiralty Islands, New Britain and the Trobriand Islands, north to China and Japan, south to northern Australia. Individuals or small groups inhabit muddy, sandy and shelly areas in estuaries, mangroves, and the brackish reaches of rivers and streams. The species may occasionally occur near shallow inshore reefs.
Features	Dorsal fin 9-10; Anal fin 8; Pectoral fin 15-16. Body depth, 2.6-3.0 in SL, eye diameter 3.0-4.3 in HL; snout ~2.2-2.4 in HL; back evenly arched; interorbital space flattened; nasal organs appear as a round depression before the eyes with a low fleshy rim forming a short triangular flap on the front and rear edges. Skin mostly smooth with a patch of spinules on the back extending from behind the interorbital space nearly to dorsal-fin origin; similar patches of spinules present on the throat and abdomen. Caudal fin truncate to slightly rounded.
Species Citation	Tetrodon patoca Hamilton, 1822, Fishes River Ganges: 7, 362, pl. 18(2). Type locality: Ganges, India.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2019
Resources	Australian Faunal Directory

Milkspot Toadfish, Chelonodon patoca (Hamilton-Buchanan 1822)

References

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Psomadakis, P.N., Matsuura, K. & Thein, H. 2018. Chelonodontops alvheimi, a new species of pufferfish (Actinopterygii: Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae) from the Indian Ocean, with redescription of the rare pufferfish Chelonodontops leopardus (Day 1878). Ichthyological Research 8pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10228-018-0646-3 Abstract (as Chelonodontops patoca)

Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 507 pp. figs.

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