Wanna Play With The Beach-Ball Of Death?

Jan 222010

There is more to this blown up beauty than meets the eye. The Puffer Fish is actually the most poisonous fish in the world. The most venomous is the Stone Fish. Scientists believe that the poison the Puffer Fish generates comes from the bacteria in their diet. But this is not what they are famous for.

Puffer fish are completely useless fish since they can barely swim. They don’t even possess scales. They move forward by trying to wobble in the approximate direction of where they want to go. They have pretty small fins for their body size so mainly use their frantic tail to get around.

Of course the main form of defence for these little nippers is to blow themselves up like a balloon to make them appear far larger than they really are. Most predatory mouths are too tiny to gobble it up and eventually just give up. Those that do manage to chew the real puff daddy up are welcomed by another surprise, lethal poison. This plucky little blower packs a walloping punch of poison, enough to kill at least six adult humans! No wonder it can afford to be such a poor swimmer, what he lacks in some departments he makes up for in others. Naturally, after being swallowed and chewed up the poor old bubble fish will deflate and die, but so will its attacker. Revenge!

There are over 120 different types of Puffer Fish and they come in all shapes and sizes ranging from 1 inch fresh water ‘pygmy puffers’ to giant sea faring monsters of up to a meter long. They all have the same box like shape when viewed from the front but some are blessed with beautiful bright colours and others have to contend with being rather plain. Many of the species have spiky thorns protruding from their skin, which is quite a scary sight when all puffed up. It is like the beach-ball of death.

Surprisingly, this odd creature of the not so deep is a rather delectable dish in some parts of the world. In Japan it is known as Fugu and is diced up rather inventively to produce some of the finest and most expensive sushi around. Some plates fetch a staggering 200$. Due to its severe toxicity the meat of the fugu has to be sliced and diced in a very specific manner in order to extract the best poison free meat. They even have special fugu knives and fugu chefs to do the surgical chopping. Many amateur fugu chefs have been known to mess it up and poison their customers. If a human ingests the Tetrodotoxin they might die within 24 hours, as was famously characterized in this classic Simpsons episode.

Luckily for Homer and his fellow fugu sashimi lovers, scientists and Puffer Fish farmers have now produced a non-poisonous variety especially for eating. So those who keep pygmy puffers as pets or who wish to be aspiring fugu chefs, can rest easy.