The pufferfish, originally known as the river puffer, also known as the boat ba, wax head, etc., refers to all genera of fish in the order Scleractinia, order Pufferiformes, family Pufferidae.

The body of the pufferfish is cylindrical, narrowing backward, naked and scale-less or covered with spiny scales, with one dorsal fin, no fin spines, opposite to the anal fin, no ventral fin, truncated or rounded caudal fin or crescent, and the color and pattern of the body vary according to the species.

The pufferfish is timid and greedy by nature, with two plate-like teeth in each of the upper and lower jaws, and its esophagus has a special structure that expands into a sac on the front and back of the abdomen, and it can inhale water and air when it meets with the enemy, so that the chest and abdomen swell up like a ball and float on the surface of the water, and it can also inhale and swell up even though it is out of the water and make a cooing sound when it is captured.

Resource status

China's puffer fish culture has been developed for more than 10 years, and now it has begun to take shape. The aquaculture areas are mainly concentrated in 10 coastal provinces such as Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Guangdong. The cultured species are mainly redfin pufferfish, false-eye pufferfish, dark-striped pufferfish, and chrysanthemum yellow pufferfish.

With the improvement of people's material life, the rational use of puffer fish resources has been paid more and more attention to, the research of puffer fish de-poisoning technology is getting better and better, and the non-toxic breeding technology of puffer fish is getting more and more mature, and more and more consumers hope that they can taste safe and harmless delicacies, and the market potential is huge.