Bullseye Puffer

Family: Puffers (Tetraodontidae)
Size: Up to 44 cm (17 in) | Common: 25 cm (10 in)
Depth: 1 – 25m (3 – 82ft)

Distribution: Eastern Pacific (California down to Peru, including the Galapagos and the Chocó coast).

Identification: A stout, smooth-bodied puffer common in shallow waters.

• Dark Spots: The upper body is typically a pale greenish-brown, heavily speckled with distinct, small dark brown or black spots.
• The "Bullseye": While not always clearly visible from the side, they feature a pattern of concentric, bullseye-like rings on the center of their back.
• Pale Belly: The underside is uniformly bright white and lacks the spotting seen on the upper half.

Behavior: A slow-moving, shallow-water forager.

• Sand & Rubble Hunters: They prefer shallow coastal waters, often hovering just above sandy bottoms or rocky rubble where they hunt for small crustaceans, mollusks, and sea urchins.
• Defense Mechanism: Like all true puffers, they lack scales and heavy spines, relying instead on a highly toxic skin secretion and their ability to inflate themselves with water to deter predators.