stellatus, Balistes Anonymous (ex Commerson, Lacepède) 1798:681, 685 [Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1798 (pt. 3) (no. 288) (for 25 Sept. 1798); ref. 24107] Mauritius, Mascarenes, southwestern Indian Ocean. No types known. Non-type: MNHN B-1925 (1) Red Sea. Type catalog: Beaunier et al. 2009:298 [ref. 28887] with author correctly as Anonymous (ex Commerson). Based on description in manuscript by Commerson (Philibert Commerson, 1727-1773, French explorer and naturalist). Neotype designation by Fricke 1999:577 [ref. 24106] is invalid; see Fricke 2000:639 [ref. 24537]. Author often seen as Lacepède. •Valid as Abalistes stellatus (Anonymous 1798) -- (Kyushin et al. 1982:289 [ref. 19754], Dor 1984:274 [ref. 29757], Smith & Heemstra 1986:877 [ref. 5714], Allen & Swainston 1988:150 [ref. 25477], Harmelin-Vivien & Quéro 1990:1055 [ref. 19527], Randall et al. 1990:452 [ref. 15987], Kuiter 1993:396 [ref. 23929], Goren & Dor 1994:72 [ref. 25356], Randall 1995:392 [ref. 22896], Mohsin & Ambak 1996:608 [ref. 27969] with author as Lacepède, Allen 1997:238 [ref. 23977], Carpenter et al. 1997:236 [ref. 23922], Chen et al. 1997:179 [ref. 26476], Kuiter 1997:392 [ref. 25488], Randall et al. 1997:452 [ref. 25919], Myers 1999:281 [ref. 23965], Fricke 1999:576 [ref. 24106], Johnson 1999:753 [ref. 25471], Laboute & Grandperrin 2000:454 [ref. 25191], Allen 2000:124 [ref. 25868], Iwatsuki et al. 2000:105 [ref. 26368], Choi et al. 2003:446, 690 [ref. 26218], Allen & Adrim 2003:64 [ref. 26830] with authors and date as Bloch & Schneider 1801 [which is stellaris], Randall et al. 2004:31 [ref. 27624], Mishra & Krishnan 2003:49 [ref. 27712] with author as Lacepède, Matsuura & Yoshino 2004:189 [ref. 27771], Baranes 2005:407 [ref. 41160], Randall 2005:619 [ref. 28239], Allen et al. 2006:1870 [ref. 29098], Khalaf & Zajonz 2007:428 [ref. 31739], Randall & Justine 2008:183 [ref. 29954], Fricke et al. 2009:115 [ref. 30213], Allen & Erdmann 2012:1060 [ref. 31980], Larson et al. 2013:232 [ref. 32988] as Anonymous [Lacepède], Yoshida et al. 2013:226 [ref. 34464], Psomadakis et al. 2015:332 [ref. 34104], Motomura et al. 2017:229 [ref. 35490], Ali et al. 2018:346 [ref. 36183], Fricke et al. 2018:376 [ref. 35805], Golani & Fricke 2018:177 [ref. 36273], Brown et al. 2019:185 [ref. 36444], Eagderi et al. 2019:134 [ref. 37020], Fricke et al. 2019:321 [ref. 36673], Habib & Islam 2020:Supplementary table p. 30 [ref. 38321], Psomadakis et al. 2020:606 [ref. 37272], Mary et al. 2021:396 [ref. 38693] with author as Lacepède, Parenti 2021:648 [ref. 38921], Gloerfelt-Tarp & Kailola 2022:291 [ref. 41223], Matsuura 2022:416 [ref. 40250], Moazzam & Osmany 2022:330 [ref. 39925], Devi et al. 2023:450 [ref. 40401], Noushad K. et al. 2024:46 [ref. 40947]). Current status: Valid as Abalistes stellatus (Anonymous 1798). Balistidae. Distribution: Red Sea; Indo-West Pacific: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), East Africa, Persian Gulf, Seychelles, Madagascar and western Mascarenes (La Réunion, Mauritius) east to Palau, Fiji and Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to New South Wales (Australia); eastern tropical Atlantic. IUCN (2020): Not assessed. Habitat: marine.