These teeth form a strong, heavy beak capable of cracking through hard prey such as mollusks and crustaceans, as well as sipunculids, tunicates, seagrass and detritus.

Identification of species is determined in part through color, pattern, and the presence and number of spines and fleshy tabs, or lappets, on the skin (Robins & Ray 1986).

The checkered puffer is pale tan to yellowish with a polygonal or square network of lines centered on a bulls-eye pattern on the midback in front of the dorsal fin.

Dark slashes are sometimes present on the lower half of the cheek, and prickles are found on the posterior ventral surface near or at the anus.

A row of large brownish black spots extends from the chin to the caudal-fin base on the lower sides, separate from the dark dorsal color.

The checkered puffer ranges from Rhode Island to Florida, Bermuda, and the southeast Gulf of Mexico to the southeastern coasts of Brazil (Robins & Ray 1986).

The checkered puffer is listed as one of eight dominant fish species in coastal waters of Yucatán, Mexico (Vega-Cendejas & de Santillana 2004).