Published monthl> by The Agassiz Association, ArcAdiA; Sound Beach, Connecticut, 



Subscription, $1.00 a year Single copy, 10 cents 



Entered as Second-Class Matter June 12, 1909, at Sound Beach Post Office, under Act of March 3, 1897. 



Vol 



IX 



JUNE, 1916 



Number 1 



The Inflation of the Puffer. 



BY C. H. T0WNSE;ND, new YORK AQUARIUM, 

 NEW YORK CITY. 



Puffer fishes inhabit all tropical and 

 warm seas. There are many species ; 

 some of them reaching: a leneth of about 



PUFFER IN NORMAL CONDITION. 



two feet. They have attracted attention 

 from the earliest times on account of their 

 habit of inflating themselves with air or 

 water until they become almost spherical 

 in shape. 



When puffers are drag'ged ashore in a 

 net they will quickly take in air until the 

 skiiii is stretched to its fullest extent, and 

 remain inflated until thrown into the 

 water. Even when thrown back they may 

 float for a time upside down, with the 



abdomen, or in some species, with oesoph- 

 ag-us still tightly distended. If left on 

 the beach they can be knocked about 

 without a particle of air escaping and 

 may die in that condition. 



The habit of inflation is protective, and 

 the fishes will distend themselves with 

 water as tightly as with air, if they are 

 attacked under water. 



A few good-sized scup or porgy were 

 placed in an aquarium tank containing 

 a dozen young puffers about two inches 

 in length. The hungry scup attacked 

 them at once. In an instant all the 

 puffers were fully inflated with water and 

 became almost globular in form, so that 

 the scup were unable to do more than 

 knock them about like toy balloons, too 



PUFFER INFLATED. 



Copyright 1916 bv The Agassiz Association, ArcAdiA: Sound Beach. Conn. 



