While it is true that most species of pufferfish are marine or brackish, some species are actually completely freshwater.
Below you will find a list of freshwater species.
Auriglobus
Auriglobus is a genus of freshwater pufferfishes native to Southeast Asia.
There are five recognised species in this genus.
Auriglobus amabilis (bronze puffer, green bottle pufferfish or golden puffer)
Auriglobus modestus (bronze puffer, green bottle pufferfish or golden puffer)
Auriglobus nefastus (bronze puffer, green bottle pufferfish or golden puffer)
Auriglobus remotus (bronze puffer, green bottle pufferfish or golden puffer)
Auriglobus silus (bronze puffer, green bottle pufferfish or golden puffer)
Carinotetraodon
Carinotetraodon is a genus of small freshwater pufferfish found in South and Southeast Asia.
There are six recognised species in this genus.
Carinotetraodon borneensis
Carinotetraodon imitator (commonly confused with C.travancoricus - dwarf Malabar pufferfish)
Carinotetraodon irrubesco (red-tail dwarf puffer)
Carinotetraodon lorteti (Crested puffer, red-eye puffer)
Carinotetraodon salivator
Carinotetraodon travancoricus (Dwarf Puffer, Pea Puffer, BB Puffer, Pygmy Puffer)
Colomesus
Colomesus is a genus of pufferfishes confined to tropical South America.
There are three recognised species in this genus, but only one is completely freshwater.
Colomesus asellus (Amazon puffer, South American Puffer)
Leiodon
Leiodon is a monotypic genus (only one recognised species), containing only the cutcutia.
Pao
Pao is a genus of pufferfish found in Southeast Asia.
There are 15 recognised species in this genus, all but one (P.leiurus) is found in freshwater.
Pao abei
Pao baileyi (Hairy puffer)
Pao barbatus
Pao bergii
Pao brevirostris
Pao cambodgiensis
Pao cochinchinensis
Pao fangi
Pao hilgendorfii
Pao leiurus *Sometimes found in inner estuaries/brackish water (euryhaline)
Pao ocellaris
Pao palembangensis (Dragon puffer, Humpback Puffer)
Pao palustris
Pao suvattii (Mekong Puffer, Pignosed Puffer, Hognosed Puffer and Arrowhead Puffer)
Pao turgidus (Cambodian Mekong pufferfish, Target Puffer, Brown Puffer, Asian Spotted Puffer and Chameleon Puffer)
Tetraodon
Tetraodon is a genus of freshwater pufferfishes confined to the African continent.
There are six recognised species in this genus.
Tetraodon duboisi (Stanley puffer, Pool Malebo Puffer)
Tetraodon lineatus (Fahaka pufferfish, Nile pufferfish, lineatus puffer or globe fish)
Tetraodon mbu (Mbu Puffer, Giant Puffer)
Tetraodon miurus (Congo puffer, potato puffer)
Tetraodon pustulatus (Cross River puffer, Red-line puffer)
Tetraodon schoutedeni (Spotted Congo puffer, Leopard puffer, Schouteden's puffer)
