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Puffer Fish (Northern)

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Sphoeroides maculatus
Puffer Fish (Northern)

Range

Puffer fish are found mostly in tropical waters around the world, but the northern puffer fish is found from Canada to Florida.

Habitat

They live mostly in shallow waters.

Body Traits

They are tan colored with black spots. Their large eyes are on the top of their heads. They have no teeth but kind of a beak at the end of a pointed snout. They have few fins, no scales and are covered with little spines. They are very poisonous.

Habits

They blow up with air and water until they are too big to be eaten by predators.

Diet

They use their beak-like mouth and sharp edged jawbone to eat crabs, shrimp, snails, clams and other fish.

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School subscriptions can access more than 175 downloadable unit bundles in our store for free (a value of $1,500).

District subscriptions provide huge group discounts for their schools. Email for a quote: sheri@exploringnature.org.

Reproduction

Females lay a sticky mass of tiny, orange eggs that sit on the ocean floor and hatch in just a few days.

Puffer Fish (Northern)

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vetebrata
Class:     Actinopterygii
Order:     Tetraodontiformes
Family: Tetraodontidae
Genus:     Sphoeroides
Species: S. maculatus

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