{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{speciesbox | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn |author=Shao, K. |author2=Liu, M. |author3=Larson, H. |author4=Hardy, G. |author5=Leis, J.L. |author6=Matsuura, K. |year=2014 |title=''Tylerius spinosissimus'' |article-number=e.T193769A2274339 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T193769A2274339.en |access-date=19 April 2025}}</ref> | parent_authority = Hardy, 1984 | taxon = Tylerius spinosissimus | authority = (Regan, 1908)<ref>{{cite WoRMS |author=Nicolas Bailly |year=2008 |title=''Tylerius spinosissimus'' (Regan, 1908) |id=219963 |accessdate=April 19, 2012}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Specieslist | Spheroides spinosissimus | Regan, 1908 | Amblyrhynchotes spinosissimus | (Regan 1908) | Spheroides unifasciatus | von Bonde, 1923 }} | synonyms_ref = <ref name = "Cof genus">{{Cof genus|genus=Tylerius|access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref> }}
The '''spiny blaasop''' ('''''Tylerius spinosissimus''''') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Tetraodontidae, the pufferfishes. This puffer is native to the Indian Ocean, the southwestern Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean along the coast of South Africa. It has recently been recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. This species is the only species in the monospecific genus '''''Tylerius'''''.
==Taxonomy== The spiny blassop was first formally described as ''Spheroides spinosissimus'' by the English ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan with its type locality given as the Saya de Malha Bank in the western Indian Ocean from a depth of over {{cvt|123|fathom}}.<ref name = "Cof genus"/> In 1984 the New Zealand ichthyologist Graham S. Hardy proposed the monospecific genus ''Tylerius'' with this species being the type species by monotypy. The genus ''Tylerius'' belongs to the family Tetraodontidae.<ref name = "Cof family>{{Cof family|family=Tetraodontidae|access-date=23 April 2025}}</ref>
==Etymology== The spiny blassop is the only species in the genus ''Tylerius'', an name that honours the American ichthyologist James C. Tyler in recognition of his considerable contribution to the study of the Tetraodontiformes. The specific name, ''spinosissimus'', means "very spiny", a reference to the head and body being covered with double rooted spines.<ref name = ETYFish>{{cite web |url=https://etyfish.org/tetraodontiformes1/ |title=Order TETRAODONTIFORMES: Families TRIODONTIDAE, TRIACANTHIDAE, TRIACANTHODIDAE, DIODONTIDAE and TETRAODONTIDAE |access-date=23 April 2025 |date=11 April 2025 |author=Christopher Scharpf |work=The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database |publisher=Christopher Scharpf}}</ref>
==Description== The spiny blassop is grey with a dark blotch above and to the rear of the eye, with another at the base of dorsal fin. The posterior margin of caudal fin is black and there are black spots on belly. This species grows to a maximum total length of {{cvt|12|cm}}.<ref name=FishBase/>
==Distribution== The spiny blaasop is found in the Atlantic off the southeast coast of South Africa, and in the Indo-Pacific from South Africa to northwestern Australia; northward to South China Sea.<ref name = FishBase>{{FishBase|Tylerius|spinosissimus|month=February|year=2025}}</ref> It has recently colonised the Levantine waters of the Mediterranean Sea off Rhodes and Turkey, most likely as a Lessepsian migrant<ref>{{cite journal |author=Maria Corsini |author2=Panagiotis Margies |author3=Gerasimos Kondilatos |author4=Panos S. Economidis |name-list-style=amp |year=2005 |title=Lessepsian migration of fishes to the Aegean Sea: first record of ''Tylerius spinosissimus'' (Tetraodontidae) from the Mediterranean, and six more fish records from Rhodes |journal=Cybium |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=347–354 |url=http://elnais.ath.hcmr.gr/PDF/Corsini_2005.pdf |access-date=2012-04-19 |archive-date=2020-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919214205/http://elnais.ath.hcmr.gr/PDF/Corsini_2005.pdf }}</ref> from the Red Sea or in ballast water. <ref name = CIESM>{{cite book|title=Atlas of Exotic Fishes in the Mediterranean Sea |chapter=''Tylerius spinosissimus''|edition= 2nd|year=2021|publisher=CIESM Publishers |location=Paris, Monaco|chapter-url=https://ciesm.org/atlas/fishes_2nd_edition/Tylerius_spinosissimus.pdf |pages=260-261}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q130558}}
Category:Tetraodontidae Category:Fish described in 1908 Category:Taxa named by Charles Tate Regan