Abstract
The present study discusses the distribution and systematic position of puffer fishes from coastal waters of Parangipettai along the southeast coast of India. The puffer fishes collected from three different stations (Mudasal odai, Annankoil and Samiyarpettai) included nine different species from five different genera: Lagocephalus, Arothron, Torquigener, Che-lonodon and Takifugu in the order Tetraodontiformes and family Tetraodontidae, viz., Lagocephalus lunar is, Lagocephalus inermis, Arothron reticularis, Arothron hispidus, Arothron stellatus, Arothron immaculatus, Torquigener brevipinnis, Chelonodon patoca and Takifugu oblongus. This study also summarized the distribution and taxonomic positions in terms of species availability and key characters.
NSTL