Info
If you look at the color pattern of the skin of this pufferfish, you can understand why it was called “beauty” in English.
This round-headed pufferfish is endemic to South African waters and is also kept in aquariums, although we lack precise husbandry reports on this.
Some basic information on pufferfish in aquaria:
$feeding tongs
Please do not feed them from your hand, pufferfish have exceptionally strong teeth, they are able to bite off a finger of their keeper with ease!
An inflated puffer fish always looks exceptionally interesting, but please do not deliberately tease the fish to make it inflate, as this will only cause unnecessary stress for the animal.
Keeping: Pufferfish are solitary animals that only look for a partner during the mating season, so it is advisable to keep them alone, preferably in a fish aquarium.
In addition to hard-shelled crustaceans, mussels, snails, sea urchins and starfish, pufferfish can also damage corals, as they (have to) wear down their regrowing teeth on hard stony corals.
If you catch a pufferfish while fishing, please never prepare and eat it yourself because of its deadly poison!
If you want to eat fugu, please always go to a Japanese restaurant with a trained fugu master.
Synonyms:
Chelonodontops pulchellus Smith, 1958
Sphaeroides pleurospilus (Regan, 1919)
Sphoeroides pleurospilus (Regan, 1919)
Tetrodon pleurospilus Regan, 1919
Puffer fish can produce toxins such as tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin and accumulate them in the skin, gonads and liver.
The toxin tetrodotoxin, which is contained in the fugu, is 1000 times more toxic than cyanide and there is no antidote serum, death then occurs by respiratory paralysis
The degree of toxicity varies depending on the species, but also on the geographical area and season.
We recommend that you never prepare puffer fish yourself, as the risk of fatal poisoning is far too great.
If you still absolutely want to eat puffer fish meat (fugu), then the fish should only be slaughtered by a Japanese special chef with a license and several years of training.
Only the training of these special chefs can guarantee the correct slaughter, complete removal and proper disposal of all toxic parts of the fish.






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