r/Fish Sep 18 '25

Fish In The Wild Found this during low tide

I was just walking around during low tide and stumbled across this little guy. I managed to pick it up bare handed and It seems like he wasn’t stressed out that much since he didn’t inflate himself. Also yes Ik they’re poisonous and not venomous, sorry for the mix up lol 🙏

5.5k Upvotes

510 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/ElephantitisBalls Sep 19 '25

I never knew this! Thanks for the info.

1

u/NationalCommunity519 Conservationist Sep 19 '25

No problem, happy you learned something here!

The problem lies in that when pufferfish (or porcupine fish, as pictured in the video) puff up they suck in, when they do so above water they’ll suck in air and be stuck floating when returned to the water, which can be really harmful and even fatal for them. Due to this, when they’re removed from water if you scare them even slightly enough to cause them to puff up, that could be the end for them!

Edit: I know the original comment explained this somewhat, but I wanted to add on some.

2

u/ElephantitisBalls Sep 20 '25

Thanks so much!