Fish have been on planet earth for more than 500 million years, and their origin is more ancient than dinosaurs. There are more than 25,000 fish species and the Puffer Fish is one of the awesome fish species on this planet.
The largest species in pufferfish can grow more than 2 feet in length when fully grown.
Facts about the Puffer Fish
Puffer fish do not have scales. Instead, they have thick and rough skin to help protect against predators. Some puffer fish also have spikes on their skin that stick out when they swell up which is even more useful against predators.
Puffer fish is served as a delicacy in Japan and several other countries. In order to cook puffer fish chefs must have licenses as well as professional training to remove the toxin from the fish before they serve them.
There are more than 120 species of pufferfish worldwide. Most of them are marine-water fish but there are 40 types of puffer fish found in brackish waters, a mix between salt and freshwater, and 29 species are found in freshwater.
The main feature of the puffer fish is that they are able to ingest large amounts of water and air which can increase their body shapes and size.
Puffer fish mostly eat invertebrates using their beak. The puffer fish beak is a combination of 4 teeth that have been fused together. They only eat meat.
Pufferfish come in a wide variety of different colors with many different markings.
Fugu sashimi is the puffer fish that is consumed in Japan. It is generally eaten at a specific time of the year and on very special occasions. In many Western countries, fugu is illegal.
They are usually found in warm ocean water; however there are 30 different species of puffer that live in freshwater.
When the puffer fish is fully “puffed” it can be on average 3 times its normal size.
The teeth of a puffer fish never stop growing. This is because they eat hard foods. So if you have one in your fish tank at home make sure that you provide it with food that has hard shells.
They have a slow and clumsy style of swimming which makes it very easy for predators to catch them.
The smallest species of pufferfish is less than 1 inch in length when fully grown.
