Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846

Leis, Jeffrey M., 2006, Nomenclature and distribution of the species of the porcupinefish family Diodontidae (Pisces, Teleostei), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 63 (1), pp. 77-90 : 87

Diodon eydouxii Brisout de Barneville, 1846

Diodon bertolettii de Lema , de Lucena, Saenger and de Oliveira, 1979: 35–38, figs 18–19 ( Brazil)*

*extant type

Diodon bertolettii can readily be identified as a synonym of D. eydouxii Brisout de Barneville based on its semi-lunate fins, blue colour, fin-ray counts, and from the photographs provided by de Lema et al. (1979, ref. 8836).

Leis (1978, ref. 5529) examined specimens of D. eydouxii Brisout de Barneville (1846, ref. 296) from 19 scattered localities in all warm oceans. I have now seen an additional 31 lots. These plus four acceptable literature records extend the known distribution of this species.

Distribution. Pelagic, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

W Indian – Cape of Good Hope to Zanzibar

E Indian – only record is Andaman Sea

W Pacific – Indonesia to Okinawa

Central Pacific – from near Samoa to Hawaii

E Pacific – equator to 20 oN plus a California record ( Lea, 1998: from Los Angeles Harbour, but misidentified as C. reticulatus [Linnaeus]) .

W Atlantic – 28 oS to 37 oN

E Atlantic – 30 oW is eastern-most specimen examined, but there are apparently valid literature records from the Azores ( Azevedo, 2004) and from Spain ( Crespo et al., 1987).