Sharpnose Puffer in Cozumel

A small puffer with a pointed snout and bright blue lines radiating from the eye, hovering in one spot with its tail cocked to the side. Slow, approachable and one of the most photographed small fish on the reef.

Quick ID

How To Identify It

Tan to olive above, white below, with electric blue lines around the eye and across the snout, and a dark bar at the base of the tail. The body is laterally compressed and the snout distinctly pointed.

Where You Will See It In Cozumel

Sharpnose Puffer works the 6 to 81 foot band. On this island that means the sheltered west-coast reefs, and the shallow east-side entries when the sea is flat — these are the sites where the depth and the habitat line up for it.

Without a boat. It is worth looking for at Tikkila Shallow, Chankanaab Shallow and Chen Rio — all shore entries, so you dive them on your own schedule.

On an ordinary beginner boat dive. It should be within reach at Casa Blanca, Chankanaab Bolones, Columbia Shallows, El Cielo and La Francesa. No advanced certification needed.

Deeper, and on the walls. It is also plausible on Palancar Caves, Palancar Horseshoe, Paso del Cedral and Punta Tunich.

Conditions change the odds more than the site does — the current, the time of day and how much the group has already stirred up the sand. Ask your guide what they have been seeing that week.

Behaviour

Picks at sponges, algae, molluscs and small crustaceans. It hovers with fine sculling of the pectoral fins and moves slowly, relying on toxicity rather than speed.

Like other puffers it can inflate with water when threatened. Provoking that response stresses the fish badly — it is not something to make a fish do for a photograph.

Commonly Confused With

• Bandtail puffer — Larger, rounder, with dark bands on the tail and no blue eye lines.
• Whitespotted filefish — Has a raised first dorsal spine and a different body outline.

Diving Etiquette And Safety

Toxic if eaten — never handled. Keep fins off the reef and hands to yourself — nothing here needs to be touched or provoked to be seen well.

Part of the Cozumel marine life guide · see Cozumel dive sites · plan your Cozumel dive trip

Photo © Sydney Hoerler, courtesy of the Cozumel Coral Reef Restoration Program, used with permission.