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Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, toadle, honey toads, sugar toads, and sea squab. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines. The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the hard shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.
The fugu in Japanese, bogeo or bok (복) in Korean, and hétún in Standard Modern Chinese is a pufferfish, normally of the genus Takifugu, Lagocephalus, or Sphoeroides, or a porcupinefish of the genus Diodon, or a dish prepared from these fish.
Takifugu is a genus of pufferfish, often better known by the Japanese name fugu. There are 25 species belonging to the genus Takifugu and most of these are native to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific, but a few species are found in freshwater of Asia or more widely in the Indo-Pacific region. Their diet consists mostly of algae, molluscs, invertebrates and sometimes crustaceans. The fish defend themselves by inflating their bodies to several times normal size and by poisoning their predators. These defenses allow the fish to actively explore their environment without much fear of being attacked.
The Tsukiji Market, supervised by the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market of the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, was the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. It was also one of the largest wholesale supermarkets of any kind. The market opened on 11 February 1935 as a replacement for an older market that was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. It was closed on 6 October 2018, with operations moving to the new Toyosu Market.
Centroscyllium is a genus of big-eyed, deepwater dogfishes with no anal fin, a grey or black-brown body, and dorsal spines, with the second one being much larger than the first. Seven extant species are described.
The bareskin dogfish is a little-known, deepwater dogfish shark of the family Etmopteridae. This species is found in the western Pacific from southern Japan to western and southeastern Australia as well as in New Zealand waters.
Pao abei is a species of freshwater pufferfish from the Mekong, Chao Phraya and Mae Klong river basins in Southeast Asia. It is named after Japanese ichthyologist Tokiharu Abe.
Takifugu rubripes, commonly known as the Japanese puffer, Tiger puffer, or torafugu, is a pufferfish in the genus Takifugu. It is distinguished by a very small genome that has been fully sequenced because of its use as a model species and is in widespread use as a reference in genomics.
The grass puffer, or Kusa-fugu, is a species of fish in the pufferfish family (Tetraodontidae). This common to abundant species is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean in China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam. It is primarily found in coastal waters, ranging to depths of 20 m (66 ft), but is often seen in brackish water and has also been recorded briefly entering freshwater. The grass puffer reaches up to 15 cm (6 in) in length.
Takifugu xanthopterus is a species of fish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is found in Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan.
Centropyge abei is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a small marine angelfish belonging to the family Pomacanthidae. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean.
Photopectoralis aureus, commonly known as the golden ponyfish or false toothed ponyfish, is a marine fish native to the Western Pacific from Taiwan south to Indonesia as well as to the Gulf of Thailand, Timor Sea, and the Arafura Sea. It grows to 10 cm (3.9 in) TL. This species was first formally described in 1972 as Leiognathus aureus by the Japanese ichthyologists Tokiharu Abe (1911-1996) and Yata Haneda (1907-1995) with the type locality given as Ambon fish market on Ambon Island. It is the type species of the genus Photopectoralis which was delineated by Sparks, Dunlap & W. L. Smith in 2005.
Takifugu chinensis, the Chinese puffer, is a species of fish in the family Tetraodontidae (pufferfish) that is found in coastal waters of China, Japan and Korea. This critically endangered pufferfish has drastically declined because of overfishing and habitat loss, but it is possibly also threatened by the widespread release/escape of aquacultured Takifugu rubripes within its range. These two species are similar, very closely related and perhaps should be considered conspecific, but they do differ in the colour of their anal fins.
Arothron multilineatus, the multilined pufferfish, is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is an uncommon fish and is known only from four specimens from Pagbilao in the Philippines, although photographs of individuals in the Ryukyu Islands, Mozambique and the Red Sea show that it has a wide distribution. It was first described by the Japanese ichthyologist Keiichi Matsuura in 2016.
Takifugu obscurus or the obscure pufferfish is a species of euryhaline, anadromous pufferfish first described by T. Abe in 1949. It has been categorized by the IUCN as a least-concern species globally since 2014; in South Korea, it is however classified as an endangered species due to overfishing of its endemic populations. The Catalogue of Life lists no subspecies of Takifugu obscurus. The species prefers deeper, clearer areas of brackish and fresh water, and is found estuaries, as well as rivers and tributaries thereof such as the South Korean rivers Geum, Han, and Imjin, or the Tamsui River in mainland China. The species is endemic to North and South Korea, the Sea of Japan, and the East and South China Seas. Uses of Takifugu obscurus include human consumption, use in animal testing, and owning specimens as pets. As with most species of pufferfish, several organs of Takifugu obscurus contain tetrodotoxin, making it potentially poisonous if not prepared safely by trained persons.
Takifugu bimaculatus is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a marine species native to the Northwest Pacific, where it is known from the South China Sea off Vietnam, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. It is demersal and reaches 30 cm SL. It is known to be toxic, although pufferfish from the genus Takifugu are often prepared and consumed as fugu.
Takifugu chrysops is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a marine species known from Japan, where it ranges from Tosa Bay to Tokyo Bay. It is a demersal fish that reaches 20 cm SL. Although sometimes known as the red-eyed puffer, this can lead to confusion with several freshwater species of the genus Carinotetraodon.
Takifugu porphyreus, known as the purple puffer, is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to the Northwest Pacific, where it ranges from Hokkaido to the East China Sea. It is a demersal species found in the littoral zone that reaches 52 cm in total length. While parts of the fish are highly toxic, it is frequently consumed as fugu in Japan.
Takifugu radiatus is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is native to the Northwest Pacific, where it ranges from Kyushu to the East China Sea. It is a demersal species that reaches 20 cm SL.
Takifugu snyderi, known as shōsai-fugu in Japanese, is a species of pufferfish in the family Tetraodontidae. It is a marine species native to Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the South China Sea. It is demersal and reaches 30 cm SL. While the ovaries, skin, liver, and intestines of the species are extremely toxic, the testes and flesh are thought to be less hazardous, and species of the genus Takifugu are frequently consumed as fugu.
References
- Ryoichi Arai: "Memories of Dr. Tokiharu Abe (1911–1996)" in Ichthyological Research44: 1, February 1997. Springer Japan
