What Are the Unusual Charasteristics of a Puffer Fish?

Puffer fish have spherical heads with long and tapered bodies ranging from one-inch to three-feet in length. They commonly reside in tropical ocean waters; however, a few types can be found in brackish or fresh water. Puffer fish can be found in a variety of colors, while some, with more muted tones, blend in with their environment. With more than 120 species, puffer fish share some unusual characteristics.

  1. Poor Swimmers

    • Puffer fish combine their pectoral, dorsal, anal and caudal fins to swim, which makes them slow and clumsy. This creates the illusion that they are easy prey for predators, but some of their unusual characteristics protect them from danger. Their fins make them highly maneuverable, and at times, can give them a burst of speed to get away from predators.

    Inflation

    • An unusual characteristic of the puffer fish is their ability to fill their elasticized stomach with water, which allows them to evade predators by inflating into a ball shape up to three-times their normal size. The predator is suddenly facing a pointy ball. If the predator swallows the puffer before or during inflation, it can choke and die.

    Scaleless

    • Puffer fish come in a variety of colors and sizes.

      Puffer fish are scaleless. They often have rough and spiky skin. Some species have large thin spines that are similar to the closely-related porcupine fish.

    Teeth

    • Puffer fish are in the Tetraodontidae family, which refers to their four large teeth. An unusual characteristic is that these four teeth are fused in the form of a hard beak that consists of an upper and lower plate. This enables them to crack open and eat clams, mussels, shellfish and mollusks.

    Toxic

    • Puffer fish are generally believed to be the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, because they contain tetrodotoxin. According to National Geographic, the tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. When caught by a predator, puffer fish are foul tasting and can be lethal. One fish carries enough toxin to kill up to 30 adults, and there is no known antidote. Despite the toxicity, part of the meat of a puffer fish, known as fugu, is a delicacy in Japan. It can only be prepared by a licensed fugu chef, because an incorrect cut can mean death to the consumer.

    Breeding

    • After being led to the shore by her male, the female puffer fish releases three to seven eggs which float to the surface of the water. The little ones have a hard shell and are not fully developed when they hatch, seven days later. The shell cracks off once the tail and fins develop. When the fish are big enough, they swim into the deep waters to join other members of their family.