An Exclusive Puffer Fish:
Kingdom: AnimaliaPhylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Actinopterygii
Subclass: Neopterygii
Infraclass: Teleostei
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Tetraodontidae
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| An Exclusive Fish |
Puffer Fish is an exclusive fish in the world. Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species, which are variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab.
There are more than 120 species of puffer fish worldwide. Most are found in tropical and subtropical ocean waters, but some species live in brackish and even fresh water. They have long, tapered bodies with bulbous heads. Some wear wild markings and colors to advertise their toxicity, while others have more muted or cryptic coloring to blend in with their environment.
The puffer's unique and distinctive natural defenses help compensate for its slow locomotion. It moves by combining pectoral, dorsal anal, and caudal fins. This makes it highly maneuverable, but very slow, and therefore a comparatively easy predation target. Its tail fin is mainly used as a rudder, but it can be used for a sudden evasive burst of speed that shows none of the care and precision of its usual movements. The puffer's excellent eyesight, combined with this speed burst, is the first and most important defense against predators.
Puffer fish are generally believed to be the second most poisonous vertebrates in the world, after the golden poison frog. Puffer poisoning usually results from consumption of incorrectly prepared puffer soup, fugu chiri, or occasionally from raw puffer meat, sashimi fugu. Certain internal organs, such as liver, and sometimes the skin, are highly toxic to most animals when eaten; nevertheless, the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan, Korea, and China, when prepared by chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity.
