Fact #6: Puffer Fish Require an Experienced Owner Water checks can be done by fish stores for you on a monthly basis or you can purchase a home kit to test your water, she said. “Routinely do water quality checks to ensure the ideal health of your fish,” she said. If these levels are high, it often indicates a dirty tank, and can create health issues for your fish, she said. Puffer fish do not have scales, but instead have spines (which you may not be able to get a good look at until they puff up), said Claricoates. Because puffer fish don’t have scales, they are very sensitive to water variations and tend to be more at-risk for diseases. As a fish owner, you have to be sure that the water quality is excellent-specifically nitrite, nitrate and ammonia levels in your tank. This puffing, in addition to their spines and quills, makes them tough for a predator to swallow (and may get stuck in a throat).Įven if a predator successfully eats a puffer fish, it may die from the toxin in the puffer fish’s body. If they are unable to get away, they enact the process they are known for: they gulp in a large amount of water (or if out of water, air) to make themselves large and unappealing, she said.A burst of energy which they can muster to swim quickly away from predators (albeit in a poorly controlled direction).Excellent eye sight, which is helpful scouting food or detecting predators early.
However, they do have other methods for deterring-or defeating-predators out to get them, said Claricoates, including: Fact #4: Puffer Fish are a Multi-Threat Fishĭespite using their fins to help them swim (with a tail fin acting as a rudder), puffer fish are notoriously slow-moving. Even with proper preparation by a trained chef, about a half dozen diners die every year from the paralyzing effects of eating puffer fish, so they should generally not be considered food. However, the the chefs who prepare Fugu, or puffer fish fillets, were not interested in serving a fish that did not have the toxin, as the numbing effect from the toxin when the fish is eaten is the appeal of eating puffer fish, he said. Puffers that have been raised in a bacteria-free environment experimentally did not produce the toxin in that instance. Nick Saint-Erne, Certified Aquatic Veterinarian from PetSmart. The toxin in the puffer fish, called tetrodotoxin, is found throughout its body, and is actually produced by bacteria, said Dr.
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Fact #2: Puffer Fish are a Delicacy…ĭid you know that most puffer fish, when eaten, are toxic to predators-and even humans? According to Claricoates, despite this risk, countries such as Korea, China and Japan consider puffer fish a culinary delicacy and only specially-trained chefs know how to serve them safely. Pufferfish can vary from two inches to up to several feet in length. The majority of them are marine-water fishes (read: require a salt water aquarium). However, she said that there are 40 types of puffer fish found in brackish waters (a mix of salt and fresh water), and 29 species are found in freshwater. There are more than 120 different species of puffer fish, said Kristin Claricoates, DVM at Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital.
If you’re considering adding a puffer fish to your aquarium, or just want to learn more about these fish, here are ten facts about this exotic fish species: Fact #1: Species Abound! But if you look beyond the spikes, you’ll find a fish with a fascinating background. When we think of puffer fish, most of us conjure an image of a bloated-looking fish with 360-degree quills.
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