Monday, January 15, 2007
Like man, Puffer Fish have nicknames too! (ahhahaha) In fact, they have four, and these four are blowfish, swell fish, fuga, and glove fish.
Puffer Fish can only move up to 10 miles an hour, and they usually only live up to 3 years old. There are over 100 species kinds of puffer fish, and all of them come in amusing shapes and beautiful colors.
Puffer Fish are not very fast swimmers, so they only eat whatever they can catch. It is also said that Puffer Fish can be quite greedy, and seem to eat anything, and will eat until they are almost unconscious! (wow hahaha) By the way, they get its food by killing it first. Those Puffer Fish which have poison in them spit it at their prey to kill them.
So after knowing about how Puffer Fish find its food, now do you wonder how Puffer Fish protect itself from its predators then?
Well, some examples of the Puffer Fish's predators are the sharks and barracudas. The way Puffer Fish protects itself from its enemies is by gulping down water or even air, to make itself inflate or "puff up" to appear much larger.
When this fish expands, its prickly spines also tend to stick straight out. Puffer Fish can only do this under extream duress, that is, when threatened by a predator.
By doing so, they become too big for the other fish to swallow them, and not to forget that their prickly spines can also scare their enemies away! But when the fish stop being afraid, it can release the water almost instantly, and get back to its intial shape and size.
P.S. Do you know that Puffer Fish can still expand itself in its predator's mouth even if it is caught by it??? But this way, BOTH fish will die though! How sad!
Hahahaha, I think this is even more interesting! :
Puffer fish is considered a delicacy in Japan, despite the fact that these fish have internal organs which make poison a.k.a tetrodoxin which can cause DEATH when consumed!
Chefs in Japan are required to undergo an exam (which only has a 25% passing rate) and acquire a special license to prepare the dish. However, approx. 100-200 people still suffer from tetrodoxin poisoning every year despite these precautions!
Just a small portion of contaminated puffer fish consumed will allow poisoning to occur, and the effects are within minutes! Symptoms usually include tingling of the mouth, vomiting, dizziness, and eventually, paralysis and death. But despite all these, this delicacy is still sold at very expensive prices with many people still willing to eat it at their own risk! :O
HOWEVER (!!!!) , recent research has also found out that tetrodotoxin might not be all bad. It is said that tetrodotoxin may ease pain in cancer patients and help wean heroin addicts! Wow wow, how ironic, no?
----------------------------
Here are more information if you are interested to know more about Puffer Fish! ^^
http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/osteich.html#anchor69370
http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/porcupine-puffer-fish-puffers.html http://ask.yahoo.com/20031223.html
That's all for now, till next time!
Like man, Puffer Fish have nicknames too! (ahhahaha) In fact, they have four, and these four are blowfish, swell fish, fuga, and glove fish.
Puffer Fish can only move up to 10 miles an hour, and they usually only live up to 3 years old. There are over 100 species kinds of puffer fish, and all of them come in amusing shapes and beautiful colors.
Puffer Fish are not very fast swimmers, so they only eat whatever they can catch. It is also said that Puffer Fish can be quite greedy, and seem to eat anything, and will eat until they are almost unconscious! (wow hahaha) By the way, they get its food by killing it first. Those Puffer Fish which have poison in them spit it at their prey to kill them.
So after knowing about how Puffer Fish find its food, now do you wonder how Puffer Fish protect itself from its predators then?
Well, some examples of the Puffer Fish's predators are the sharks and barracudas. The way Puffer Fish protects itself from its enemies is by gulping down water or even air, to make itself inflate or "puff up" to appear much larger.
When this fish expands, its prickly spines also tend to stick straight out. Puffer Fish can only do this under extream duress, that is, when threatened by a predator.
By doing so, they become too big for the other fish to swallow them, and not to forget that their prickly spines can also scare their enemies away! But when the fish stop being afraid, it can release the water almost instantly, and get back to its intial shape and size.
P.S. Do you know that Puffer Fish can still expand itself in its predator's mouth even if it is caught by it??? But this way, BOTH fish will die though! How sad!
Hahahaha, I think this is even more interesting! :
Puffer fish is considered a delicacy in Japan, despite the fact that these fish have internal organs which make poison a.k.a tetrodoxin which can cause DEATH when consumed!
Chefs in Japan are required to undergo an exam (which only has a 25% passing rate) and acquire a special license to prepare the dish. However, approx. 100-200 people still suffer from tetrodoxin poisoning every year despite these precautions!
Just a small portion of contaminated puffer fish consumed will allow poisoning to occur, and the effects are within minutes! Symptoms usually include tingling of the mouth, vomiting, dizziness, and eventually, paralysis and death. But despite all these, this delicacy is still sold at very expensive prices with many people still willing to eat it at their own risk! :O
HOWEVER (!!!!) , recent research has also found out that tetrodotoxin might not be all bad. It is said that tetrodotoxin may ease pain in cancer patients and help wean heroin addicts! Wow wow, how ironic, no?
----------------------------
Here are more information if you are interested to know more about Puffer Fish! ^^
http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/osteich.html#anchor69370
http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/porcupine-puffer-fish-puffers.html http://ask.yahoo.com/20031223.html
That's all for now, till next time!
