stellatus, Tetrodon Anonymous (ex Commerson, Lacepède) 1798:683 [Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 1798 (pt. 3) (no. 288) (for 25 Sept. 1798); ref. 24107] [Habitat mare Indicum circa insulam Mauricii] Mauritius, Mascarenes, southwestern Indian Ocean. No types known. Based on "Le Tétrodon étoilé" of Lacepède 1798:474, 483 [ref. 2708], which was based on a description in manuscript by Commerson (Philibert Commerson, 1727-1773, French explorer and naturalist). Most authors date to Tetrodon lagocephalus var. stellatus Bloch & Schneider 1801:503 [ref. 471]; however Fricke 1999:602 [ref. 24106] pointed out that the name correctly dates to Anonymous 1798:683 [ref. 13098]. •Valid as Arothron stellatus (Bloch & Schneider 1801) -- (Kyushin et al. 1977:372 [ref. 19756], Kyushin et al. 1982:305 [ref. 19754], Dor 1984:285 [ref. 29757], Matsuura in Masuda et al. 1984:365 [ref. 6441], Smith & Heemstra 1986:898 [ref. 5714], Allen & Swainston 1988:154 [ref. 25477], Paulin et al. 1989:245 [ref. 24556], Randall et al. 1990:474 [ref. 15987], Talwar & Jhingran 1991:1054 [ref. 20764], Kuiter 1993:422 [ref. 23929], Francis 1993:168 [ref. 25479], Matsuura 1994:29 [ref. 21445], Goren & Dor 1994:74 [ref. 25356], Randall 1995:402 [ref. 22896], Mohsin & Ambak 1996:624 [ref. 27969], Larson & Williams 1997:375 [ref. 23967], Lindberg et al. 1997:165 [ref. 23547], Allen 1997:244 [ref. 23977], Carpenter et al. 1997:239 [ref. 23922], Kuiter 1997:410 [ref. 25488], Randall et al. 1997:474 [ref. 25919], Johnson 1999:755 [ref. 25471], Matsuura in Randall & Lim 2000:648 [ref. 25122], Nakabo 2000:1427 [ref. 25182], Laboute & Grandperrin 2000:468 [ref. 25191], Sadovy & Cornish 2000:286 [ref. 25480], Randall & Earle 2000:22 [ref. 25806], Allen 2000:125 [ref. 25868], Ebert 2001:30 [ref. 25494], Sakai et al. 2001:124 [ref. 25693], Hutchins 2001:48 [ref. 25847], Matsuura 2001:3956 [ref. 26317], Nakabo 2002:1427 [ref. 26193], Choi et al. 2003:453, 696 [ref. 26218], Allen & Adrim 2003:65 [ref. 26830], Manilo & Bogorodsky 2003:S124 [ref. 27377], Myers & Donaldson 2003:651 [ref. 27495], Mishra & Krishnan 2003:50 [ref. 27712], Randall et al. 2004:32 [ref. 27624], Adrim et al. 2004:127 [ref. 27715], Heemstra et al. 2004:3332 [ref. 27945], Heemstra & Heemstra 2004:453 [ref. 28072], Randall 2005:647 [ref. 28239], Hoese et al. 2006:1916 [ref. 29099], Larson et al. 2013:236 [ref. 32988]). •Valid as Arothron stellatus (Anonymous 1798) -- (Fricke 1999:605 [ref. 24106], Fricke et al. 2009:121 [ref. 30213], Verruraj et al. 2011:6 [ref. 31496], Allen & Erdmann 2012:1090 [ref. 31980], Fricke et al. 2013:273 [ref. 32706], Bogorodsky et al. 2014:434 [ref. 33460], Fricke et al. 2014:198 [ref. 33932], Delrieu-Trottin et al. 2015:8 [ref. 33988] with authorship as Bloch & Schneider, 1801, Psomadakis et al. 2015:336 [ref. 34104], Stewart & Roberts 2015:1733 [ref. 34322], Matsuura 2016:[6] [ref. 34211] Koeda et al. 2016:114 [ref. 35333], Kwun et al. 2017:143 [ref. 37287], Ali et al. 2018:346 [ref. 36183], Fricke et al. 2018:385 [ref. 35805], Golani & Fricke 2018:181 [ref. 36273], Jawad et al. 2018:124 [ref. 36262], Eagderi et al. 2019:137 [ref. 37020], Fricke et al. 2019:334 [ref. 36673], Zajonz et al. 2019:102 [ref. 36871], Habib & Islam 2020:Supplementary table p. 30 [ref. 38321], Kim et al. 2020:201 [ref. 39118], Psomadakis et al. 2020:618 [ref. 37272], Sonoyama et al. 2020:130 [ref. 37637], Kaleshkumar et al. 2021:[4] [ref. 38263], Mary et al. 2021:398 [ref. 38693], Gloerfelt-Tarp & Kailola 2022:303 [ref. 41223], Kondo et al. 2022:34 [ref. 39156], Matsuura 2022:460 [ref. 40261], Noushad K. et al. 2024:46 [ref. 40947]). Current status: Valid as Arothron stellatus (Anonymous 1798). Tetraodontidae. Distribution: Red Sea; Indo-West Pacific: Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), East Africa, Persian Gulf, Socotra (Yemen), Seychelles, Comoros, Madagascar and Mascarenes (La Réunion, Mauritius, Rodrigues) east to Tuamotu Archipelago (French Polynesia), north to southern Korea, Chiba Prefecture (central Japan) and Ogasawara Islands (Japan), south to Lord Howe Island (Australia) and northern New Zealand. Habitat: marine.