Puffer fish, because it is often active in the estuary area, is commonly known as the puffer fish in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. The body shape characteristics of most species of pufferfish: rounded and prismatic, gray-brown on the dorsal side, scattered with small white stripes or insect-like spots, smooth and scaleless fish body, yellow-white belly, small white spines on the dorsal abdomen, semi-exposed and inverted eyeballs, inconspicuous gills, two teeth shaped like human teeth, small mouth, and air sacs. Guangdong is called a good fish or chicken hug, while Guangxi is called turtle fish, Shandong is called a boat, and Hebei is called Latou.
When the puffer fish encounters the enemy and escapes, the abdomen swells rapidly and floats, and the ancients recorded that "the touch is anger, and the bloating is like a balloon floating up and taking it." The morphological characteristics of pufferfish determine that their swimming ability is not strong, and in addition to regular movement, the distance they travel is not very long. Most puffer fish are between 10-20 cm long and weigh about 300 grams, and belong to small fish. Different species of puffer fish have large differences in body shape.
Are puffer fish freshwater or saltwater fish? There are species that live in fresh water, there are also species that live in seawater, and historical records say: puffer fish, rivers, seas, and rivers.
Puffer fish, also known as pufferfish, are temperate and tropical offshore demersal fish that often live in the lower and middle layers of the ocean, and some puffer fish species live in freshwater. Different species of pufferfish are distributed in different waters, some live in fresh water, some live in river estuaries, that is, in places where brackish water, and some live in salt water, saying that pufferfish are freshwater fish or saltwater fish is not a scientific expression.
Some puffer fish known as "soda fish" live in the mouth of the river, the reason why it is called puffer fish, is because they have the characteristics of seasonal migration to fresh water, they will return to fresh water to spawn at a specific time, complete the mating and spawning process and then return to their original saltwater living environment, so that many people think that puffer fish is a river fish, which shows that puffer fish can live in fresh water, dark oriental dolphin and other species have been living in fresh water.
Most of the pufferfish are distributed near the coast, and the river dolphins on the mainland have migratory habits, migrating from the sea to the Yangtze River during the breeding season to spawn, like river fish, but actually marine fish.
In addition to migratory habits, puffer fish also have a bloated belly habit, sand drilling habit, eye turning habit and blinking habit, mutual bite habit, vomiting habit, vocal habit.
Abdominal distention habit is conducive to avoiding predators, the abdominal skin of the puffer fish is largely stretched, which is conducive to the floating of the abdomen, and a part of the front of the digestive tract evolves into a retractable expansion sac, which is also conducive to the floating of the abdomen. In the habit of drilling sand, the puffer fish often has its abdomen facing down, and then shakes its body violently from side to side, buried in the sand, and exposed eyes and dorsal fins, which may be a way of sleeping or resting. Puffer fish have the habit of turning their eyes and blinking, and the puffer fish keeps their eyes moving when they forage. Puffer fish have the habit of biting each other, and when the body is in contact with each other or the density is too high, there is a habit of crazy biting, which may be a manifestation of competition and occupation of living space. Vomiting habits, when the water environment in which the puffer fish lives changes drastically, the puffer fish quickly spits out the food in the stomach, so when breeding the puffer fish, the water environment should be avoided. Vocal habits, when the environment changes, is frightened or attacked, the puffer fish will emit "whooshing" and "grunting" sounds while expanding its abdomen into a spherical shape to intimidate the enemy and prevent attacks.
Captive cultured pufferfish
Puffer fish meat is delicious and nutritious, is a high-grade precious aquatic product, known as the "crown of dishes", but its ovaries, liver, kidneys, eyes, blood contains high toxicity, improper handling or accidental ingestion, light poisoning, heavy death.
Puffer fish muscles are mainly white muscles, without intermuscular spines, and are the best raw materials for making sashimi. The myoma of wild puffer fish is white, while the muscle membrane of farmed puffer fish is mostly black, according to which wild and farmed puffer fish can be distinguished.
Puffer fish liver is developed, the shape is more special, the proportion of fish body is higher than other fish, in the process of gonadal maturation of liver accumulation can be transferred to the gonads, so that the liver volume and weight have been reduced.
Pufferfish are hermaphrodite, in vitro fertilized, in vitro hatching fish, individual pufferfish have been reported to have hermaphrodite phenomenon, in the 5727 puffer fish can be found in 17 hermaphrodite pufferfish. Male sperm nests are generally non-toxic, edible, and taste better than muscle, but ovaries are highly toxic.
According to chemical analysis, tetrodotoxin is one of the most toxic non-proteins found in nature so far, the chemical properties of the toxin are relatively stable, after general frying, boiling, salting and sunbathing, etc., can not quickly destroy it, so the mortality rate of human and animal poisoning is extremely high. Tetrodotoxin is a neurotoxin that is heat-resistant and is not destroyed for 8 hours at 100°C. Experts suggest that there is no special antidote to tetrodotoxin poisoning, and the most effective way to prevent poisoning is to strictly investigate the management department, and find that puffer fish should be centrally handled, and it is forbidden to retail puffer fish.