Valentin's sharpnose puffer (Canthigaster valentini), also known as the saddled puffer or black saddled toby, is a demersal marine fish belonging to the family Tetraodontidae. The saddled puffer is a small sized fish which grows up to 11 cm. It is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian Ocean, Red Sea included, and until the oceanic islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Canthigaster valentini has four distinct black stripes (saddles) on its back. The head is blue-grey and the main body is white speckled with blue-grey spots. The tail and fins show hints of yellow and there is a rainbow streak of color behind the eyes. It is omnivorous, it feeds on filamentous green and red algae, tunicates, and on smaller amounts of corals, bryozoans, polychaetes, echinoderms, mollusks, and brown and coralline red algae.
This species has a toxin in its skin, which it releases when highly stressed or dying.
The toxin found in C. valentini as well as in other pufferfish species is one of the most potent naturally occurring toxins. It is a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin present in the skin and other tissues of C. valentini. It is lethal to many species of fish, thus making C. valentini unpalatable to predators. Threat of predation for adults as well as larvae and eggs is low due to unpalatability, causing reproductive behaviors to differ from other species according to the reduced predation risk.
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