From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Species of fish
The
grass puffer
(
Takifugu niphobles
), or
Kusa-fugu
(
Japanese
:
草河豚
), is a species of
fish
in the
pufferfish
family (Tetraodontidae). This common to abundant species is found in the northwest Pacific Ocean in
China
(including
Hong Kong
and
Taiwan
),
Japan
,
Korea
, the
Philippines
and
Vietnam
.
[1]
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.
[1]
The grass puffer reaches up to 15 cm (6 in) in length.
[2]
Breeding
[
edit
]
The grass puffer has a highly unusual breeding behavior where large groups gather seasonally in shallow water along certain beaches during
high tide
, throw themselves onto land (with the help of an incoming wave) where fertilization occurs, and then return to the water.
[3]
[4]
The fertilized eggs may be swept back to the sea or stay on land under rocks for a period,
[1]
but in the latter case they only hatch when submerged by water during a later high tide.
[5]
Such a breeding behavior is not known from any other
pufferfish
, but is known from the unrelated
capelin
and
grunion
.
[6]
Relationship with humans
[
edit
]
The grass puffer is often caught off beaches, docks, and piers using various baits such as worms, shrimp, sea lice, or cut fish. They are popular for children to catch and even popular as pets, but their intestines contain the extremely potent pufferfish poison
tetrodotoxin
which is potentially lethal to humans.
[1]
[2]
The species is not specifically targeted, but sometimes taken as part of the
fugu
fishery.
[1]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Shao, K.; Liu, M.; Hardy, G.; Leis, J.L.; Matsuura, K.; Jing, L. (2014).
"
Takifugu niphobles
"
.
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
.
2014
: e.T21341A2775256.
doi
:
10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T21341A2775256.en
. Retrieved
12 November
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2017).
"
Takifugu niphobles
"
in
FishBase
. March 2017 version.
- ^
Motohashi E., Yoshihara T., Doi H., Ando H. (2010).
"Aggregating Behavior of the Grass Puffer, Takifugu niphobles, Observed in Aquarium During the Spawning Period"
.
Zoological Science
.
27
(7): 559?564.
doi
:
10.2108/zsj.27.559
.
PMID
20608844
.
S2CID
33056088
.
{{
cite journal
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Yamahira K (1997).
"Proximate factors influencing spawning site specificity of the puffer fish Takifugu niphobles"
.
Marine Ecology Progress Series
.
147
: 11?19.
Bibcode
:
1997MEPS..147...11Y
.
doi
:
10.3354/meps147011
.
- ^
Martin, K.L.; A.L. Carter (2013).
"Brave New Propagules: Terrestrial Embryos in Anamniotic Eggs"
.
Integrative and Comparative Biology
.
53
(2): 233?247.
doi
:
10.1093/icb/ict018
.
PMID
23604618
.
- ^
Martin, K.L.M. (2014). Beach-Spawning Fishes: Reproduction in an Endangered Ecosystem. CRC Press.
ISBN
978-1482207972
.