Although the pufferfish, or blowfish, swims very slow making them easy targets for predators, they are also highly maneuverable and have unique defense mechanisms. Puffers can fill their extremely elastic stomachs up with water and inflate themselves into a spherical shape to appear larger to the stalking predator, giving the puffers a chance to retreat to safety. Tetraodontidae is the scientific name, which refers to the four large teeth fused into the upper and lower plate used for crushing crustaceans and mollusks.

In Japan, sashimi fugu (raw puffer meat) prepared only by specially licensed chefs is a celebrated delicacy and sought out for the effects of light-headedness, tingling and numbness of tongue and lips from the minute amount of tetrodotoxin intentionally left by the chef. Strict laws in Japan and other countries only allow chefs who have passed rigorous training to deal with the fish served in restaurants since it takes deft skills to carefully remove the toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat. While puffer poisoning can be deadly to humans, the neurotoxins can be tolerated by other animals such as tiger sharks and lizardfish.

Image Courtesy: Bernard Spragg