Pufferfish — printable fact sheet
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Pufferfish
Tetraodontidae (family includes multiple genera and species)
A pufferfish does not inflate with air — it gulps water into a hugely elastic stomach that can expand to many times its resting volume, turning the fish into a sphere far too large and awkward to fit in a predator's mouth. Its body is built to permit it: it has no ribs and no pe…
Did you know?
- Despite their toxicity, certain species of pufferfish are served as the delicacy 'fugu' in Japan, prepared only by licensed chefs due to the risk of fatal poisoning.
- Pufferfish inflate with water, not air — and they have no ribs, which would otherwise resist the expansion. Their tetrodotoxin is far deadlier than cyanide by weight, and they do not produce it themselves — it comes from bacteria in their food. Fish raised on a controlled diet are completely non-toxic. Their teeth are fused into a continuously growing beak that must be ground down on shellfish.
What I learned
Draw the pufferfish
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