Home » Plants & Animals » Aquatic Animals » Pufferfish: The Big Blowup

Pufferfish: The Big Blowup

© Sharon Rorem

Fish get irritated too. When they get angry, they can’t go out to coffee and talk it out. (By the way, did you know that caffeine is deadly to fish? One tablespoon of cola in a small tank can kill all the fish in the tank in less than thirty minutes, but that’s off our topic so let’s move on.)

So-how do fish express themselves? One type of fish, the puffer, gulps water and inflates its body to around twice its size when it feels threatened. There are at least 100 species of pufferfish, also known as blowfish. Puffers, blowfish, and porcupinefish all have the ability to expand their bodies, but porcupinefish also have long, sharp spines that point out from the body when the fish inflates itself. Puffers have four strong teeth that fuse together to form a beak-like mouth. This “beak” is very strong. It can crack open shells, and is also used to chew.

Puffers look comical. Their bulging eyes, little mouth, and tiny rotating fins make them seem cute and cuddly. Puffers raised in captivity become used to people, but puffers in the wild have a different attitude about us. Tetraodon mbu is a type of freshwater puffer found in the Congo River in Africa. Its disposition has been described as nasty, vicious, quarrelsome, and violent. (Well, some people are like that too…) These puffers can reach 30” in length and weigh 14 pounds. They like to eat meat- anything nice and solid. (Once again, some people are like that too…) Oh- and one more thing- they can kill you.

This is where it gets interesting for most people. Tetraodon mbu carry a toxin in their skin that is deadly to people. This toxin, tetrodotoxin, is not created by the puffer but is ingested by the puffer through the fish and shellfish it eats. Just touching a puffer will not kill you. Eating a puffer could, though, and that’s just what some people do. The prepared puffer dinner is called “fugu,” named after a type of toxic puffer found in the Indo-Pacific area. In Japan, “fugu” is a traditional delicacy. The “fugu” chef is trained and licensed to prepare the fish. He carefully removes the liver and other organs where the toxin is found on the fish. For most diners who consume fugu, the only sensation is a temporary narcotic effect. For others, the meal may have more of a “bite”. On the average, 30-100 people a year are reported to have been taken ill with “fugu” poisoning in Japan, and mortality rates as high as 50% a year have been reported there.