The blunthead puffer, Sphoeroides pachygaster, is a pufferfish of the family Tetraodontidae, found circumglobally in tropical and temperate seas, at depths between 50 and 500 m. Its length is up to 40 cm. It is an edible species, and is commonly eaten in Japan, where it is referred to as 'yorito fugu', and has a lower concentration of tetrodotoxin compared to other species of pufferfish prepared and eaten as fugu. However, its liver contains dangerous levels of the toxin, and must not be eaten.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Sphoeroides pachygaster has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens73
BINs1
Marker genes11
eDNA detections69
Countries14
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P652 bp consensus62 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 98% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 15 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.78%
Haplotypes8
BIN1
Most divergent pair2.3%
OceaniaS.AmericaEuropeAsiaOther
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5PCOIICOXIIICYTBND1ND2ND3ND4ND4LND5-0ND6
animal barcodemitochondrial
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
07Deep time~30.9 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin30.9 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 045 records
Wild obs. + sensor4 838
Museum / vouchered1 079
Other128
Origin
Native6
Introduced1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO8 804 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit1 599
200–1000 m twilight303
1–4 km midnight6
>4 km abyssal0
median 140.7 m · max 2 543 m · 1 908 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy99% within 1 km
≤100 m 388≤1 km 2 308≤10 km 10>10 km 11
2 717 georeferenced · 2 121 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor4 838
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy62% within 1 km
≤100 m 69≤1 km 109≤10 km 88>10 km 19
285 georeferenced · 794 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 079
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions24 of 56 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record
68
Sydney, AU
44
Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record
44
Washington, US
38
Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record
28
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
27
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record
26
Natick, US
23
FishBaselocation not on record
23
IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record
17
Paris, FR
15
Honolulu, US
13
Chicago, US
13
CASlocation not on record
11
Cincinnati, US
9
ICM-CSIClocation not on record
8
Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record
7
Museums Victorialocation not on record
6
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record
6
Cambridge, US
5
National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record
5
National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record
5
Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record
4
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record
4
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
4
San Nicolás de los Garza, MX
4
Toronto, CA
4
Western Australian Museumlocation not on record
3
South Kensington, GB
3
University of California San Diegolocation not on record
3
PUC-RSlocation not on record
2
The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record
2
SCSDlocation not on record
2
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record
2
Chiba, JP
2
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
2
Universidad Católica del Nortelocation not on record
2
Champaign, US
1
IEOlocation not on record
1
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
1
Yokosuka City Museumlocation not on record
1
Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratorylocation not on record
1
Bando, JP
1
DASSHlocation not on record
1
Morelia, MX
1
Copenhagen, DK
1
NHMOlocation not on record
1
Los Angeles, US
1
Wuzhou, CN
1
Stockholm, SE
1
Bergen, NO
1
Vancouver, CA
1
American University of Beirutlocation not on record
1
Montgomery, US
1
Barcelona, ES
1
Londrina, BR
1
56 institutions · 503 of 1 079 vouchered records shown · 33 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA69 detections
Where the DNA of Sphoeroides pachygaster was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found69
Studies independent surveys1
Countries12
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 69 detections have coordinates
Open the map12 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median19.6 °C 14.2–26.6
Seasonal swing summer↔winter9.50 °C
Max temp (day)22.2 °C 16.2–27.8
Min temp (night)18.2 °C 12.1–25.0
Precipitation73.9 mm/mo 0.4–175
Air humidity62.0 % 55.1–70.0
Vapour deficit943 Pa 634–1,239
Cloud cover34.0 % 9.20–44.8
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 33 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 800 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System3 245 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI69 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics73 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗