All have four teeth that are fused together into a beak-like form. They are scaleless fish and usually have rough to spiky skin. They range in size from the 1-inch-long dwarf or pygmy puffer to the freshwater giant puffer, which can grow to more than 2 feet in length. Some wear wild markings and colors to advertise their toxicity, while others have more muted or cryptic coloring to blend in with their environment. They have long, tapered bodies with bulbous heads. Most are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in brackish and even fresh water. There are more than 120 species of pufferfish worldwide. In fact, many such deaths occur annually. Called fugu in Japan, it is extremely expensive and only prepared by trained, licensed chefs who know that one bad cut means almost certain death for a customer. As FoodĪmazingly, the meat of some pufferfish is considered a delicacy. There is enough toxin in one pufferfish to kill 30 adult humans, and there is no known antidote. To humans, tetrodotoxin is deadly, up to 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish. ToxicityĪ predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long.
#Puffer fish fugu skin
Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable. In lieu of escape, pufferfish use their highly elastic stomachs and the ability to quickly ingest huge amounts of water (and even air when necessary) to turn themselves into a virtually inedible ball several times their normal size. Biologists think pufferfish, also known as blowfish, developed their famous “inflatability” because their slow, somewhat clumsy swimming style makes them vulnerable to predators.
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