Native to the central Amazon basin with records existing from the Madeira, Branco, Trombetas, and Tapajós river drainages, plus the Rupununi basin in Guyana. Although an affluent of the rio Essequibo and thus not officially part of the Amazon basin, the latter is connected to the rio Takutu, a tributary of the upper rio Branco, during the annual wet season.

Type locality is given by Fowler as ‘Rio Madeira about 200 miles east of W. Long. 62°20′, Brazil’.

This species is also referred to as ‘South American puffer’, ‘SAP’, ‘Amazonian puffer’, ‘Peruvian puffer’, or ‘Brazilian puffer’ in the ornamental trade.

Within the genus Colomesus, C. asellus can be immediately identified by possessing a unique transverse row of dermal flaps across the chin which is absent in its congeners C. psittacus and C. tocantinensis.

There also exist a number of minor differences in colour pattern between populations. For example some Peruvian forms have yellow pigmentation on the body and fins, and those from Guyana and Suriname possess a short red stripe on vertical scale rows 6-9, above the central dark stripe on the body.

Rio Negro forms have a similar red stripe but overlapping the central dark stripe and extending along most of the flank, while a form from Colombia has an elongate red stripe which is broken in two beneath the dorsal-fi…

S. leucosticta is frequently available in the ornamental trade and farmed for the purpose in several countries. It is often confused with its congener S. jurupari in aquarium literature and on websites, but is easily recognised by presence (vs. absence) of prominent white spots or vermiform markings on the sides of the head.

Although the presence of white spots on the head does not distinguish it from all known Satanoperca populations (see below), it can…