Author: Gmelin, 1789
Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Balistes punctatus Gmelin, 1789 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: dorsal finrays III + 1-3, 26-28; anal finrays 2, 22-24; second dorsal with 3-4 anterior rays as separate filaments in adults. Scales in median, horizontal series 60-61. Colour: grey with many brown or blue , spots; a large, brown blotch usually present on upper caudal base. Size: 45 cm SL.
Habitat: above sandy and rocky bottoms, at 20-30 m. Food: crabs and bivalves. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: Madeira. Elsewhere, on both sides of Atlantic (from Spanish Sahara to Angola and from Rhode I. to Brazil).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Aboussouan, 1966: 279, fig. 46.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.