Sphoeroides testudineus
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources11 archives
Databases and archives Sphoeroides testudineus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation4 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility4 133 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 779 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI207 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics214 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome ~0.80 Gbp↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The checkered puffer (Sphoeroides testudineus) is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes. Normal sizes: 4 to 7 in. (10 to 18 cm) Travel / Living Depth: 3– 35 ft. (1-12m). Location and Distribution: Caribbean, The Bahamas, Florida, and Gulf of Mexico.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Habitat & environment3
Uses & economy1
Other traits2
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 testudineus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ 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.
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.
The complete instruction manual Sphoeroides testudineus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
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
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.
Record type5 912 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
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.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions21 of 55 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 277 |
| Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados, Unidad Irapuato, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record | 228 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 133 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 92 |
| Tapachula, MX | 75 |
| Washington, US | 68 |
| Chicago, US | 64 |
| Cambridge, US | 45 |
| Universidad del Valle de Guatemalalocation not on record | 45 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 28 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 28 |
| UFESlocation not on record | 25 |
| Mexico City, MX | 24 |
| CASlocation not on record | 24 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 22 |
| Texas Memorial Museum, Texas Natural History Collectionlocation not on record | 17 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 15 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 14 |
| Paris, FR | 14 |
| Los Angeles, US | 13 |
| Mexico City, MX | 12 |
| UFRRJlocation not on record | 10 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 9 |
| CAJlocation not on record | 8 |
| 7 | |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 6 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 6 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 6 |
| Toronto, CA | 5 |
| Stockholm, SE | 5 |
| University of Nebraskalocation not on record | 5 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 4 |
| Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)location not on record | 3 |
| Vancouver, CA | 3 |
| Londrina, BR | 3 |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 3 |
| Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldilocation not on record | 3 |
| Museu de Historia Natural Capao de Imbuia (Brazil)location not on record | 2 |
| Morelia, MX | 2 |
| Instituto de Biodiversidad de Venezuela - INBIOlocation not on record | 2 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 2 |
| Helsinki, FI | 2 |
| Geneva, CH | 2 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 2 |
| Champaign, US | 2 |
| New Haven, US | 2 |
| Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt (IAvH)location not on record | 1 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 1 |
| Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 1 |
| Instituto para la Investigación y la Preservación del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural del Valle del Cauca - INCIVAlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 1 |
| USP-RPlocation not on record | 1 |
| Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA)location not on record | 1 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 1 |
| Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratorylocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Sphoeroides testudineus 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
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
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.