Chelonodon (from Ancient Greek χελώνη (khelṓnē), meaning "turtle", and ὀδούς (odoús), meaning "tooth") is a genus of pufferfishes native to the Indo-Pacific. They are mainly found in coastal regions and estuaries, but sometimes in rivers.

Species and taxonomy

There are six recognized species in this genus:

Synonyms

  • Chelonodon bengalensis (Habib et al., 2018) (Bengal reticulated puffer) is a synonym of Chelonodon patoca (Hamilton, 1822)

The type species of Chelonodon was Leiodon cutcutia, making it a synonym of Leiodon. As a consequence, Catalog of Fishes and other authorities instead placed the above species in Chelonodontops. FishBase, however, still uses Chelonodon, and therefore the type was changed to C. kappa in 2024.