Opinions and declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

The purposes of this application are (1) to conserve the widely used staphylinid name Platydracus maculosus (Gravenhorst, 1802) by suppressing its senior subjective synonym Staphylinus viduatus Fabricius, 1801, which has been used only once in the past 160 years, and (2) to conserve the specific name of Platydracus violaceus (Gravenhorst, 1802). The latter name was originally published in combination with Staphylinus Linnaeus, 1758; it is a junior primary homonym of S. violaceus Olivier, 1795 (now Plochionocerus violaceus), but the two taxa have not been considered congeneric since 1833 and the conservation of Platydracus violaceus is proposed in accord with Article 23.9.5 of the Code

This record is interesting because this pufferfish was publicly sold in a local wet market for human consumption despite the general assumption that most embers of the family Tetraodontidae are poisonous, particularly the viscera, skin and blood (Matsuura, 2001). The fishmonger said that the flesh of this pufferfish is edible, and that it is esteemed by the Malay community. As there has been no recently reported cases of pufferfish poisoning in humans, it is assumed that whoever purchase these fishes will have the knowledge to properly prepare them to render them safe for eating. The diet of Arothron stellatus is known to be varied, consisting of sea urchins, sponges, crustaceans, coral and algae (Sadovy & Cornish, 2000). This observation highlights barnacles as one of the fish’s crustacean food items. Arothron stellatus is one of six species in the genus Arothron known to occur in Singapore waters. The other congeners are Arothron immaculatus, A. reticularis, A. mappa, A. hispidus and A. caeruleopunctatus (Tan, 2013; Yap & Sankar, 2015).

This large pufferfish of about 60 cm total length, was observed hiding beneath overhanging table coral during a coral spawning event

Opinions and declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature

Opinions and declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature