Dwarf puffer fish are a pale yellow with dark spots on their sides and back. Males have a single dark stripe running vertically along their underbelly to distinguish from the females, and they also have wrinkles behind their eyes that the females also lack. 

This species of puffer fish, as indicated by their common name of “dwarf puffer fish”, only reach a length of about an inch at full maturity. Females are moderately larger than the males, but not by much.

Dwarf puffer fish are native to India, specifically the regions of Kerala and southern Karnataka, both part of the Western Ghats mountain range. The largest population of dwarf puffer fish is located in India’s Pamba River, but the species is also found in 12 other rivers in the Kerala region. Dwarf puffer fish in the wild are primarily found in freshwater lakes and rivers throughout their niches.

Dwarf puffer fish primarily prey upon small vertebrates, such as insects, as well as snails and shellfish. They also feed on microorganisms when needed. 

When in captivity, which is increasingly common for these tiny creatures, they will eat a variety of tiny snails and food that has been frozen, like bloodworms, but will refuse to eat food that has been dried out.

Dwarf puffer fish lay their eggs within aquatic plants, which eggs hatch after only 5 days! The courtship ritual involves a male dwarf puffer fish performing a dance to attract a female for mating. After the eggs are laid, the male guards them up to the week after the juveniles are born, at which point they have begun swimming.

Young dwarf puffer fish appear to not have a true sex due to competition between individuals once they reach maturation. When one puffer fish starts to “become” a male, it will secrete certain hormones in order to deter development in another dwarf puffer fish that is also “becoming” male. If the hormones are not successful, one dwarf puffer fish ends up as the dominant male over the other.

The dwarf pufferfish is poisonous meaning its toxins will only affect you if you ingest the fish. The neurotoxin Tetrodotoxin causes paralysis of the muscles and shut down of vital organs. The strength of the toxin is dependent on the locality and diet of the pufferfish as more algae and shellfish means more toxins.