Sphoeroides pachygaster, Hardy & Randall, 1983

Mutlu, Erhan, Meo, Ilaria de & Miglietta, Claudia, 2020, Spatio-temporal distribution of pufferfish (Tetraodontidae) along the Turkish coast of the Mediterranean Sea Abstract, Mediterranean Marine Science 22 (1), pp. 1-19 : 13

Sphoeroides pachygaster

One of two rare species belonging to the family Tetraodontidae was S. pachygaster , found at two trawl stations. This species was caught only at bottom depths of 200 m in October ( R2 ) and February ( R1 ). The maximum biomass was estimated to be 30 kg /km 2 with the maximum abundance of 120 ind/km 2 in February ( R1 ), which is higher than in October (16 kg /km 2 and 20 ind/ km 2, respectively). The number of males was 16 ind/km 2 in February. The number of females varied between 20 ind/km 2 in October and 36 ind/km 2 in February. Lengths ranged from 12.0 to 30.4 cm, whereas individual weights varied from 48.43 to 600 g. Males were shorter than 15 cm, with weights of 50–60 g and females were 15–30 cm long and weighed between 100 and 600 g. Statistical significance of the measurements was not expected to test the differences among the regions, seasons, and bottom depths because the number of individuals was insufficient (only two males and four females in the catch) to establish L-W relationships, but six individuals could be useful to establish L-W significant regression lines for total specimens (W = 0.060334L 2.6995) of this rare species (unpublished data) .