by Nathan Vail

Created on: October 25, 2008

Pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, and blowfish are a few of the common names for the torpedo-shaped species known for the distinctive ability to inflate themselves with water or air when threatened. There are over 100 different species of pufferfish, organized into about 20 genera, which belong to the Tetraodontidae family.

Pufferfish are often confused with their relatives, the porcupinefish, because the two species share the same general characteristics. The porcupinefish, however, have large and conspicuous spines coating their bodies, while the pufferfish have smaller and more subtle spines or none at all. The porcupinefish also belong to a separate family: the Diodontidae. Both the Tetraodontidae and the Diodontidae families belong to the order of Tetraodontiformes.

The majority of pufferfish are marine fish dwelling in tropical waters and are uncommon to temperate zones and absent from cold regions. They are distributed worldwide, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and many marine species travel to brackish or fresh water to feed and (or) breed. Many species live in shallow coastal regions and estuaries rather than the deep ocean, while some live in freshwater and never enter the sea.

Puffers usually range from 1 to 24 inches, although some can grow up to 48 inches (or 4 feet). Their bodies are round with large eyes that can often move independently, and they have two teeth on the bottom and top of their mouths, hence the name "tetraodontidae", which means: "four teeth." These teeth continue to grow and need to be worn down with hard-shelled prey, and are fused into a powerful jaw used to crush the snails, bloodworms, crustaceans, sea urchins, and occasionally small fish that constitute the pufferfish diet.

These fish have no scales and, unless they have spines, their bodies are smooth. They have a pair of pectoral fins behind the gills, a dorsal fin placed on the lower back, an anal fin on the underside, and a caudal fin as the tail. They can be very maneuverable in motion, primarily using the dorsal and anal fins for propulsion and the caudal as a rudder, but they are often slow-moving, making them easy targets for predators.

Many species change the color or the intensity of their patterns to better camouflage themselves in the environment, much like the chameleon. But their most notable defense, as mentioned before, is their ability to inflate themselves with water to scare or deter predators and give themselves time to retreat. This tactic is possible because

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