nounplural noun pufferfish, plural noun pufferfishes

• A stout-bodied marine or freshwater fish that typically has spiny skin and inflates itself like a balloon when threatened. It is sometimes used as food, but some parts are highly toxic.

  Family Tetraodontidae: several genera and many species, including the common pufferfish (Tetraodon cutcutia)

  ‘We saw crabs, eels, batfish, unicornfish, pufferfish, boxfish, lionfish, squirrelfish, racoonfish, butterflyfish, parrotfish and angelfish, to name just a few.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Having soon blown a film on these shoals and the occasional diversion of singletons like a moray eel, a porcupine pufferfish and a variety of grouper, I turn to the other reef life.’
  • ‘Take a look inside them - they are home to moray eels, shrimps, sleeping gobies and pufferfish.’
  • ‘A similar fish, the black-spotted pufferfish, does not have the black splash around its mouth and can be found throughout the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.’
  • ‘When disturbed, weevers erect a dark-colored and highly venomous dorsal spine, while pufferfishes, also poisonous, puff up into a ball of spikes.’
  • ‘The other divers seemed magnetically attached to the seabed at around 15m, but I was drawn to the roof of the temple, replete with splendid stands of gorgonian coral, groupers and a pufferfish.’
  • ‘Both pufferfish and zebrafish have a second glucagon receptor-like gene that is most closely related to the characterized goldfish glucagon receptor.’
  • ‘One was not a pufferfish but a frogfish that had swallowed some prey so large it was having difficulty using its silly, paddle-like pectoral fins.’
  • ‘A relative of the pufferfish, mola molas have very large cartoon-like eyes and small, succulent mouths.’
  • ‘Where the boulders meet the sand there are many fish species, including stingrays, parrotfish and pufferfish.’
  • ‘However, it makes a good home for numerous pufferfish, porgies and sweetlips, and surgeonfish shoal in the open water nearby.’
  • ‘Scientists at the Fisheries Ecology Research Centre in the southern Japanese fishing town of Yobuko claim to have developed a poisonless pufferfish.’
  • ‘Imagine trying to photograph a large pufferfish with the final frame while an eagle ray circles round your head - much to the amusement of the other divers from the boat.’
  • ‘Differences between the two lineages are also due to differential gene loss: four genes were lost in the mammalian lineage, and three were lost in pufferfishes.’
  • ‘The pufferfish contains a neurotoxin and, if not prepared properly, can quickly kill a human being who eats it (which, of course, makes it all that much more interesting for thrill seekers).’
  • ‘Mantis shrimp skulked liked cats under the jetty, one feasting on a juvenile pufferfish that had strayed too close to its spearing claws.’
  • ‘A big pufferfish lurked in there and I took its portrait before making my way up to the superstructure, still in the lee of the current.’
  • ‘A large spiny pufferfish pops out from behind it.’
  • ‘Shoaling barracuda with an escort of silky sharks, masked butterflyfish, masked pufferfish and the remnants of the snapper shoals.’
  • ‘It allowed a good rest period before the excellent night dive off Namalatu beach, with wonderful Spanish dancer nudibranchs, bizarre boxfish, pufferfish, a squid and the spectacular reds and oranges of the corals.’