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.’
‘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.’
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