Colomesus asellus, the Amazon puffer, asellus puffer,[1]South American freshwater puffer,[2]Peruvian puffer,[3] or Brazilian puffer[4] is a species of pufferfish confined to the Amazon, Essequibo and Orinoco basins in tropical South America.[5] It is a popular aquarium species.[6]
It has typically been recognized as the only true freshwater pufferfish of South America, but a study in 2013 recommended that the population in the Tocantins River basin (quite similar to C. asellus in appearance, but differs in genetics) should be considered as a separate species, C. tocantinensis.[7] This is followed by Catalog of Fishes,[8] but not FishBase.[9]
^Ebert, Klaus (2001). The Puffers of Fresh and Brackish Water. Aqualog. ISBN 3-931702-60-X.
^Monks, N., ed. (2006). Brackish Water Fishes. TFH. ISBN 0-7938-0564-3.
^Ralph, Chris (2003). Pufferfish. Ringpress Books. ISBN 1-86054-233-6.
^Cite error: The named reference FishBaseasellus was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Colomesus asellus". Archived from the original on February 23, 2007. Retrieved February 16, 2007.
^Amaral, C.R.L.; P.M. Brito; D.A. Silva; and E.F. Carvalho (2013). A new cryptic species of South American freshwater pufferfish of the genus Colomesus (Tetraodontidae), based on both morphology and DNA data. PLoS ONE 8(9): e74397.
^Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Colomesus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
^Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2018). Species of Colomesus in FishBase. December 2018 version.
Colomesusasellus, the Amazon puffer, asellus puffer, South American freshwater puffer, Peruvian puffer, or Brazilian puffer is a species of pufferfish...
species are found in disjunct tropical regions of South America (Colomesusasellus and Colomesus tocantinensis), Africa (six Tetraodon species), and Southeast...
and need for salt water, Colomesus psittacus is rarely kept in home aquaria, but it is otherwise similar to Colomesusasellus in terms of maintenance....
both of which separate it from its congeners Colomesusasellus and C. psittacus. "ITIS - Report: Colomesus tocantinensis". www.itis.gov. Retrieved 2022-01-19...