526 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



the Gulf of Maine directly) that the flesh of some 

 of the species of puffers, and perhaps of all of the 

 porcupine fishes, is poisonous. 



Both groups are warm-water fishes. One species 

 of puffer reaches the southwestern part of the 

 Gulf rather commonly; and one porcupine fish has 

 been reported there as a stray from the south. 



KEY TO GULF OF MAINE PUFFERS AND 

 PORCUPINE FISHES 



1. Skin set with large conical spines Bun-fish, p. 527 



Skin merely prickly Puffer, p. 526 



Puffer Sphaeroides maculatus (Bloch and 

 Schneider) 1801 



Swellfish; Swell toad; Balloonfish; 

 Bellowsfish; Globefish 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 1733. 



Description. — When the puffer is not inflated it 

 it moderately slender (about three times as long 

 as deep) , about as thick as it is deep, and it tapers 

 from abreast the gill opening to a rather slender 

 caudal peduncle in one direction, to a rounded 

 snout in the other. Its very small mouth is 

 situated at the tip of the snout as it is in the 

 triggerfishes and filefishes. It has no true teeth 

 but the bones of its upper and lower jaws form 

 cutting edges, each divided in the middle by a 

 suture, giving the appearance of two large incisors 

 above and two below. The gill openings are very 

 small and set oblique, but their obliquity is the 

 reverse of that of the filefishes (p. 521), i. e., back- 

 ward and downward. The eyes are set very high 

 and are horizontally oval in outline. The skin has 



no scales, but the sides of both head and body, the 

 back from snout to dorsal fin, and the belly as far 

 back as the vent are rough with small, stiff, close- 

 set prickles; those on the back are bluntish and 

 nearly vertical while those on the sides and belly 

 are rather sharp, pointing backward when the fish 

 is not inflated, but erect when it is. 



There is no spiny dorsal fin. The soft dorsal fin 

 is very short (8 rays), rhomboid in outline, about 

 twice as high as it is long, and set far back close 

 to the caudal peduncle. The anal fin (7 rays) is 

 similar to the dorsal in shape and size, and arises 

 close behind it. The caudal fin is of moderate 

 size, wealdy rounded, with angular corners. The 

 pectorals are fan-shaped, and are situated close 

 behind the gill openings. There are no ventral 

 fins. 



The most interesting morphologic character of 

 the puffer is its ability to inflate itself with air or 

 with water if it is handled or at the slightest dis- 

 turbance of any sort, until the skin of the belly is 

 stretched tight as a football, and the fish is almost 

 globular. In this condition, it floats at the surface, 

 belly up, and apparently helpless. Leave it alone, 

 however, and it soon deflates, discharging the air 

 or water suddenly, and shrinks back to its normal 

 dimensions. 



Color. — Dark olive green above, sometimes ashy 

 or dusky, the sides greenish yellow to orange, 

 crossbarred with 6 to 8 rather indefinite dark 

 bands or blotches. The belly is white. 



Size. — The puffer is said to grow to a length of 

 14 inches, but few of them are more than 10 inches 

 long. Females average larger than males. 



Habits. — The puffer is an inshore fish, often 

 coming in to the tide line. It runs up into slightly 



3 



■- 



N, 



Figure 280. — Puffer (Sphaeroides maculatus), Connecticut. From Jordan and Evermann. Drawing by W. S. Haines. 



