Do FW puffer fish really ever puff up?

[illuminum]

Another stupid question by me, but I'm just curious.

 

[madasafish]

A good question! Mine never have... But I am sure they could.

 

[mike57]

you really don't want puffers to puffup it puts a lot of stress on the fish to scare them bad enough to puff. i don't think freshwater puffers puff atleast mine don't when i net them.

 

[cdawson]

It's more of a last resort defence for puffers, kind of like a self destruct so to speak. It takes so much out of them alot of the time they never fully recover from it. Yes FW puffers puff, but if yours does you know that you've done something very wrong.

 

[puffergirl]

Mine has never puffed, and he goes through alot with getting his tooth trimmed every 6 weeks or so. They are tough little guys.

 

[PlatyLady]

I've wondered the same thing when I looked at puffers in the fish stores. I didn't realize it took so much out of them. Now I wonder why they never fully recover from it. Being a defence mechanism, I'd think it would be like a porcupine throwing its quills or a skunk making a stink...

 

[dogartist]

Tooth trimmed ..How

 

[William]

Clove oil to sedate them, then fingernail cutters to clip the beak. IIRC

 

[madasafish]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure it doesn't have that much of an effect... Not much point in having such an adaptation if you're just going to die afterwards. That said, in an aquarium environment this might well be the case!!!!

 

[tabitha]

wow i wondered the same thing myself--i just figured they didnt.... i didnt know it would nearly kill them if they did!! seems kinda useless if they are just gonna die or be seriously hurt from it..

weird

 

[Sati]

It's probably something like those amazing human feats we hear about every now and again (like lifting cars to save people). It's possible, but not something you want to do every day, or multiple times a day.

For a puffer to puff up it has to be extremely stressed. And after it has puffed up it's going to likely still be extremely stressed both from going through what it sees as a very traumatic incident, and from physically taxing themselves.

Or maybe I'm just overanalyzing it

 

[cdawson]

No, that's pretty near dead on. Their major defence mechanism is actually the tetradotoxin in their organs and muscle tissue. Reason #1 not to try eating fugu the next time you go out for sushi.

 

[illuminum]

oh, so that's why homer almost died from that one time in Simpsons when he went to sushi 8)

 

[ferret]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure it doesn't have that much of an effect... Not much point in having such an adaptation if you're just going to die afterwards. That said, in an aquarium environment this might well be the case!!!!

WEEEELLL... Puffers are totally different, in everyway (Though specificly, socially in this example).. But bees have stingers that are ripped out when used, leaving them to die shortly after. A one time defense for the hive. Granted puffers don't have hives (Scary thought)

 

[cdawson]

Hmm... I'm pretty sure it doesn't have that much of an effect... Not much point in having such an adaptation if you're just going to die afterwards. That said, in an aquarium environment this might well be the case!!!!

WEEEELLL... Puffers are totally different, in everyway (Though specificly, socially in this example).. But bees have stingers that are ripped out when used, leaving them to die shortly after. A one time defense for the hive. Granted puffers don't have hives (Scary thought)

LOL!
It'd be like the movie pirahna, only ten times worse!

 

[KazVorpal]

It's more of a last resort defence for puffers, kind of like a self destruct so to speak. It takes so much out of them alot of the time they never fully recover from it. Yes FW puffers puff, but if yours does you know that you've done something very wrong.

That is an old wive's tale, like "don't throw rice at weddings, it swells up and kills birds who eat it".

Some people try to discourage SCUBA divers from puffing the spiny puffer fish. They argue that the fish is at a disadvantage during the several hours it takes to "deflate". But there is no reason to think they "never recover".

Also, not all puffers do puff. I don't recall which species off the top of my head, but the family of tetraodontiformes known as "puffer fish" is so named because SOME of the species do.

Oh, and yes, the rice thing is pure nonsense, which can be recognized for multiple reasons. All of the granivorous birds where the rice is grown would be dead. The water for the swelling would have to come from the bird's own stomach...there simply isn't enough. Oh, and rice doesn't increase all that much in volume, anyway. Plus, birds digest the seeds faster than they swell when they're soaking cold, not even in boiling water.