What do puffer fish do?

What do puffer fish do?

Pufferfish can inflate into a ball shape to evade predators. Also known as blowfish, these clumsy swimmers fill their elastic stomachs with huge amounts of water (and sometimes air) and blow themselves up to several times their normal size. Some pufferfish species also have spines on their skin to ward off predators.

How does puffer fish behave?

These fish are predators and are known for being rather aggressive in fighting other fish off from their territories. Pufferfish attack with their sharp hooked beaks, which are normally used for shelling mussels, crabs, and other shellfish.

Is a puffer fish nocturnal?

Nocturnal and solitary, this large puffer can be aggressive about protecting its territory from intruders. Its diet includes a wide variety of invertebrates like crabs, mollusks, corals, coralline algae, tunicates, sea stars and urchins.

What are some fun facts about puffer fish?

Fast Facts: – One puffer fish contain enough toxins to kill more than 30 people. There is no known antidote for puffer fish’s toxin. It is 1,000 times more poisonous than cyanide. Their slow and uncoordinated swimming style makes them unprotected by predators.

How does puffer fish move?

These fish swim by side-to-side sculling movements of the dorsal and anal fins, while the pectoral fins assist with balance and direction. Although puffer fish are unable to swim effectively in this position, the strategy is a deliberate antipredator action; instead of swimming, the fish drifts with the ocean current.

What kind of food does a puffer fish eat?

They are scaleless fish and usually have rough to spiky skin. All have four teeth that are fused together into a beak-like form. The diet of the pufferfish includes mostly invertebrates and algae.

What makes a pufferfish poisonous to other fish?

Some species also have spines on their skin to make them even less palatable. A predator that manages to snag a puffer before it inflates won’t feel lucky for long. Almost all pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, a substance that makes them foul tasting and often lethal to fish.

How long does it take for a puffer fish to hatch?

Younger puffer fish are protected by a tough eggshell whereas they float on the floor of the water. Every week later, the egg hatches and a younger puffer fish swims in direction of the reef. Male puffer fish spend seven to 9 days creating underwater crop circles within the sand consisting of intricate patterns to draw females.

Can a puffer fish turn on its tank mates?

A puffer fish can even turn on their tank mates and can chew them to pieces. Some of the figure 8 puffer fish, however, are quite peaceful and have been part of community tanks successfully. Ideally, they should be kept either in a large aquarium with only a few other fish, or they should be kept alone.