Narrow-lined/Striped Pufferfish

Description:

Pic#1 shows close-up Pic#2 shows a pair courting Arothron manilensis is a small sized fish which grows up to 31 cm length. Its body is oval shape, spherical et relatively elongated. The skin is not covered with scales. The fish has no pelvic fin and no lateral line.The dorsal fin and the anal fin are small, symmetric and located at the end of the body. Its snout is short with two pairs of nostrils and its mouth is terminal with four strong teeth. The background coloration is whitish to grey with brown horizontal lines, all the fins are yellowish and semi-translucide except the caudal fin which is opaque and outlined with black. Black blotch more or less circular at the base of the pectoral fin. The iris is also yellowish

Habitat:

This species is found in tropical waters of the central Indo-Pacific. It lives in estuaries, on the sheltered top reef or lagoons from the surface to 20 m depth.[4] It is common in seagrass beds and sandy areas. Juveniles grow among mangroves

Notes:

Pufferfish, as their name implies, uses puffing/blows-up as one of their defense mechanism by swallowing in water. They are also called ballon fish. blowfish, bubblefish, globefish or swell fish among others. Pufferfish are generally believed to be the second-most poisonous vertebrates in the world, after the golden poison frog. Certain internal organs, such as liver, and sometimes the skin, contain tetrodotoxin and are highly toxic to most animals when eaten; nevertheless, the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in Japan (fugu), Korea (bogeo ), and China (hétún) when prepared by specially trained chefs who know which part is safe to eat and in what quantity. However, despite its known toxicity if consumed, every year, there are people who died from consuming improperly prepared Puffefish.