Taxonomy & naming
Linnaeus described the species in 1758, and it is now placed in Takifugu, the marine and estuarine puffers of East Asia, within Tetraodontidae. The authority is in parentheses because Linnaeus used a different genus. The Catalog of Fishes lists it as valid.
Morphology
A puffer that inflates when threatened and has a beak of four fused teeth, as in all Tetraodontidae. FishBase gives a maximum of 7 in TL for males or unsexed fish. The species name means marked with eye-like spots.
Habitat
FishBase lists it as a marine, freshwater and brackish demersal fish of the subtropics, classed as anadromous, with a range in China and Viet Nam. Juveniles are found in brackish and fresh water, but adults need marine conditions.
Feeding
The diet is not documented in the sources available to the atlas. Puffers in general eat hard-shelled prey such as snails, crabs and shrimps, which also wears down the beak.
Mating
Courtship has not been described in the sources available to the atlas.
Breeding
Breeding has not been documented in the sources available to the atlas. FishBase classes the species as anadromous, so adults move between salt water and rivers or estuaries.
In the aquarium
Sold by partner stores as a small brackish puffer. Juveniles tolerate fresh and brackish water, but adults need marine conditions, so a young fish sold for a freshwater tank outgrows that setup. Feed hard-shelled foods for the beak. FishBase notes the species is deadly poisonous to eat, and the toxin makes it unsafe to handle carelessly or to feed to others. FishBase gives no temperature, pH or hardness range, and the atlas records none.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Takifugu ocellatus as Near Threatened, assessed in June 2011, meaning it is close to qualifying for a threatened category.