---
title: "Compère bigaré"
description: "Sphoeroides maculatus — Poissons. The northern puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes, found along the Atlantic coast of North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/fr/animal/northern-puffer
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Compère bigaré

> Sphoeroides maculatus — Poissons. The northern puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes, found along the Atlantic coast of North America.

- Scientific name: *Sphoeroides maculatus*
- Category: `fish` (Poissons)
- Habitats: `sea` (Mer et côte)
- iNaturalist observations: 1318
- Wikidata: [Q3753267](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3753267)
- iNaturalist taxon: [146796](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/146796)

## Names

- en: Northern Puffer
- de: Kugelfisch
- es: Tamboril norteño
- fr: Compère bigaré

## Countries with the most observations

US (1185), CA (5)

## Summary

The northern puffer, Sphoeroides maculatus, is a species in the family Tetraodontidae, or pufferfishes, found along the Atlantic coast of North America. Unlike many other pufferfish species, the flesh of the northern puffer is not poisonous, although its viscera can contain poison, and high concentrations of toxins have been observed in the skin of Floridian populations. They are commonly called sugar toads in the Chesapeake Bay region, where they are eaten as a delicacy. There was widespread consumption of northern puffers during the rationing that accompanied the Second World War, establishing a commercial fishery…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_puffer

## Photo

![Compère bigaré](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/northern-puffer/medium.jpg)

Photo: Karen McCabe · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15761522

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/northern-puffer?lang=fr` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).