This animal has got a trick up his fin!

Who’s the sea magician? Let’s find out!

Perhaps one of the most interesting fish in the sea, pufferfish or puffers, have a very unique ability to defend themselves from prey. When a puffer anticipates predator threats, the puffer seemingly employs a little magic – and poof! – he blows up to at least twice his normal body size!

Some puffers are smooth skinned, while others have spikes sticking out from their bodies. These sea creatures are slow swimmers and with their large-set eyes, they have darn cute faces – at least we think so! But no matter their appearance, a small pufferfish always looks tasty to a big prey fish.

It’s not difficult to imagine why a slow-moving puffer would inflate himself when faced with a big, frightening fish: simply by rapidly expanding his size, the pufferfish is often successful in scaring prey animals away!

So how does the pufferfish perform this visual trickery?

To expand in body size, the puffer swallows an extremely large amount of ocean water through his mouth and fills his stomach to maximum capacity. The fish’s body is adapted to allow it to take the shape of the round stomach, and the puffer can slowly release the water back out his gills later on.

Of course, we all know what it’s like to run or swim fast on a full stomach—not easy. The pufferfish, too, has much trouble swimming when he is blown-up to full size. Despite suddenly appearing larger, a puffer may still get eaten by an undeterred and hungry big fish. Most often, rather than puffing up, the pufferfish prefers to swim away from threats and hide among ocean rocks and plants.