Pufferfish / Tetraodontidae
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[Photo] A Puffer Fish is kissing my camera at Big Island of Hawaii. Date September,2004. Author Mila Zinkova http://home.comcast.net/~milazinkova/Fogshadow.html

The Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, and toadies. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large conspicuous spines (unlike the small, almost sandpaper-like spines of Tetraodontidae). The scientific name, Tetraodontidae, refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.

The skin and certain internal organs of many Tetraodontidae are highly toxic to humans, but nevertheless the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in both Japan (as fugu) and Korea (as boh-guh).

The Tetraodontidae contains at least 121 species of puffers in 19 genera. They are most diverse in the tropics and relatively uncommon in the temperate zone and completely absent from cold waters. Puffers are mostly found in coastal regions though some are oceanic (e.g., Lagocephalus lagocephalus) or live in the deep sea (e.g., Sphoeroides pachygaster). A large number of puffers are found in brackish and fresh waters: at least 39 marine species enter brackish or freshwater to feed or breed (e.g., Arothron hispidus), and a further 28 species are completely freshwater fish in distribution and never enter the sea (e.g., Colomesus asellus).

Tetrodotoxin is a powerful neurotoxin that can cause death in nearly 60% of the humans that ingest it. A human only has to ingest a few milligrams of the toxin for a fatal reaction to occur. Once consumed, the toxin blocks the sodium channels in the nervous tissues, ultimately paralyzing the muscle tissue. Curiously, the toxin seems not to be synthesized by the fish itself, but by bacteria associated with the fish. The fish has a mutation in its own sodium channels which makes it resistant to the effect of the toxin.

Distribution
The entire Tetraodontidae family has a worldwide distribution. Its members are found near-shore in shallow seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Many members of the family can be found in areas of brackish water such as estuaries. Some select species are known to exist entirely in freshwater.

Ecology and life history

Natural defenses
The puffers's unique and distinctive natural defenses are necessary due to their particular form of locomotion. Puffers use a combination of pectoral, dorsal, anal, and caudal fins for propulsion that make them highly maneuverable but very slow, and therefore comparatively easy targets for predators. As a defense mechanism, puffers have the ability to inflate rapidly, filling their extremely elastic stomachs with water (or air when outside the water) until they are almost spherical in shape. Thus, a hungry predator stalking the puffers may suddenly find itself facing what seems to be a much larger fish and pause, giving the puffers an opportunity to retreat to safety. When lifted out of water there is a risk that puffers inflate with air. This may result in problems deflating again afterwards. When this happens with aquarium specimens the recommended course of action for fishkeepers is to hold the puffer underwater by the tail, head upwards, and shake the fish gently until the air escapes out of the mouth.

Some puffers also produce a powerful neurotoxin in their internal organs, making them an unpleasant, possibly lethal, meal for any predatory fish that eats one. This neurotoxin is found primarily in the ovaries and liver, although smaller amounts exist in the intestines and skin, as well as trace amounts in muscle tissue and in its blood. Many puffers have bright colors and distinctive markings and make no attempt to hide from predators. This is likely an example of aposematism, where the puffers advertises to potential predators that it is not safe to eat. Obviously being poisonous does not help the puffers once it has been eaten, so the evolutionary mechanism at work benefits the species, with predators learning that puffers are at least distasteful and probably sickening, and so avoided next time that predator encounters that species of puffers. Even if a larger fish swallows one, the puffers can still chew its way out. (Darwin notes this in reference to Diodon in The Voyage of the Beagle).

It should be noted that puffers toxin is not necessarily as toxic to other animals as it is to humans, and some species of fish routinely eat puffers, such as lizardfish and tiger sharks. Puffers toxin evolved as a response to aquatic predators such as larger fish, rather than for use against humans. Note also, not all puffers are poisonous; Takifugu oblongus, for example, is one of the fugu puffers that is not poisonous.

Tetrodotoxin
The puffer's toxin is called tetrodotoxin, or more precisely anhydrotetrodotoxin 4-epitetrodotoxin. It is also found within other animals such as the Blue-Ringed Octopus, Cone Snail, and in certain varieties of newt. Tetrodotoxin is produced within the puffers by bacteria, which are acquired through food. This means that puffers raised in captivity do not contain tetrodotoxin, and therefore are not poisonous until they come into contact with the bacteria. The puffers itself has immunity to the poison due to a mutation in the protein sequence of the sodium channel pump on the cell membranes.

Tetrodotoxin is an exceptionally lethal poison. Tetrodotoxin is approximately 1200 times deadlier than cyanide. In animal studies with mice, 8 μg tetrodotoxin per kilogram of body weight killed 50% of the mice (see also LD50). It is estimated that a single Puffer has enough poison to kill 30 adult humans.

Poisoning
Puffer poisoning usually results from consumption of incorrectly prepared puffers soup, "chiri" or occasionally from raw puffers meat, "sashimi fugu." While chiri is much more likely to cause death, sashimi fugu often causes intoxication, light-headedness, and numbness of the lips, and is often eaten for this reason. Puffers (tetrodotoxin) poisoning will cause deadening of the tongue and lips, dizziness, and vomiting. These are followed by numbness and prickling over the body, rapid heart rate, decreased blood pressure, and muscle paralysis. Death results from suffocation as diaphragm muscles are paralyzed. Patients who live longer than 24 hours are expected to survive, although the poison can cause comas lasting several days. Many people report being fully conscious during the entirety of the coma, and can often remember everything that was said while they were supposedly unconscious. In Voodoo, puffers poison must be ingested by the victim for the black magic of creating "zombies," most likely because of the pseudocomatose effect.

Treatment consists of supportive care and intestinal decontamination with gastric lavage and activated charcoal. Case reports suggest that anticholinesterases such as edrophonium may be effective.

Saxitoxin, the cause of PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning, red tide), can also be found in puffers. Cases of neurologic symptoms, including numbness and tingling of the lips and mouth, have been reported to arise rapidly after the consumption of puffers caught in the area of Titusville, Florida. These symptoms are generally resolved within hours to days, although one affected individual required intubation for 72 hours. As a result of such cases, Florida banned the harvesting of puffers from certain bodies of water.

A drug called Tectin that is derived from tetrodotoxin is being developed as a potent pain reliever. Administered in very small quantities it can bring relief to those suffering from intense chronic pain, such as that experienced by some cancer patients. Other uses, such as helping opiate addicts through withdrawal, are also being studied.

Other facts
Due to some unknown selection pressure, intronic and extragenic sequences have been drastically reduced within this family. As a result, they have the smallest-known genomes yet found amongst the vertebrate animals, while containing a genetic repertoire very similar to other fish and thus comparable to vertebrates generally. Since these genomes are relatively compact it's relatively fast and inexpensive to compile their complete sequences, as has been done for two species (Takifugu rubripes and Tetraodon nigroviridis).

Puffers are able to move their eyes independently, and many species can change the color or intensity of their patterns in response to environmental changes. In these respects they are somewhat similar to the terrestrial chameleon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraodontidae

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