A small pointed-nose puffer covered in white spots, hovering close to rock and rubble.
To 9 cm, which makes it the smallest fish in this group by a wide margin. Tiny and flattened side to side, with the long pointed snout of its genus and a large blunt head. Dark brown, often yellowish-brown around the snout, covered in numerous small white spots over the head and body, and the spots continue onto the first quarter to half of the tail fin, which is a precise and useful mark. The belly is whitish. The single small dorsal fin is set far back with a matching anal fin opposite, the tail is rounded, and there are no pelvic fins. There are often blue-green iridescent lines around the eye.
In the eastern Pacific it is effectively the only common puffer of its kind, so confusion is unlikely. A dark juvenile guineafowl puffer is the nearest thing, and the pointed snout, compressed body and size settle it.
Adults shelter in shaded recesses on rocky reef, boulder slopes and walls between about 2 and 24 m, so they are found tucked under overhangs rather than out in the open. Pairs form lasting bonds and hold a territory together, which is unusual and worth knowing for a fish this easy to overlook. It eats soft corals, hydroids, sponges, sea squirts, bryozoans and small algae.
It carries tetrodotoxin in the skin as well as the organs, so it is poisonous to eat. It is no threat to a diver and is too small to bite meaningfully.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.