About Puffers and Filefishes
Specialized mostly marine fishes including puffers, triggerfishes, and ocean sunfish.
Tetraodontiformes include puffers (Tetraodontidae), triggerfishes (Balistidae), filefishes (Monacanthidae), and the ocean sunfish (Molidae).
Morphology. Highly modified: bodies are often rounded, box-like, or truncated; jaw teeth are fused into beak-like plates. Puffers can inflate with water or air; many contain the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin. The ocean sunfish (Mola mola) is the heaviest bony fish.
Habitat & distribution. Mostly tropical and temperate marine (reefs, open ocean, estuaries); a few puffers are freshwater.
Ecology & human use. Mostly slow swimmers feeding on invertebrates and gelatinous prey. Pufferfishes are delicacies (fugu) in East Asia but require expert preparation due to toxicity; triggerfishes are popular aquarium fishes.
