Puffer fishes: how not to like them?
If they have that funny face and big eyes with a full galaxy in them.
While diving at 15m of depth (approximately 50ft), in the dive site called La Corona, Norbert spotted a couple of pufferfishes and show them to me, so I went right away to take a picture, at first I just saw one of them, the male, I guess.
Usually when you go close to them they leave, or try to hide, this one, had a different behavior, he was territorial, he was scaring away others fishes and confronted my camera. Then, I noticed the second one, that I assumed it was the female, just sitting there, behind a rock, all camouflaged and watching everything happen. I managed to take a sequence of pictures, where you can see the expression on the face of the one I determinated was the male.
This particular specie is called BALLOONFISH (Diodon holocanthus) and it grows up till about 60 cm or 2 ft. They variate in color from olive to brown with small black spots. The brown bar through the eye is one of the characteristics to look for to identify them. Also the dark patches above pectoral and at dorsal base.This particular specie is called BALLOONFISH (Diodon holocanthus) and it grows up till about 60 cm or 2 ft. They variate in color from olive to brown with small black spots. The brown bar through the eye is one of the characteristics to look for to identify them. Also the dark patches above pectoral and at dorsal base.
Here I show you a couple of different puffer fish that belong to the same species, so you can compare how you normally see them, one taken in the fall, and the other in the winter.
Is this the only puffer fish specie we have?
Of course no. We have others, and it is pretty common to see them while you are diving or even from the dock. They variate in size, color, patern and spines as you can see.
We encorage you NOT to make them inflate, they can gulp in large amounts of seawater to inflate their bodies making them difficult to swallow for predators. So this is a mecanism of survival for them. Do not stress them, let them be in pace, and you will have more chances to witness how they behive normally down there. HAPPY BUBBLES!
