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Masked puffer fish, Arothron diadematus, in coral
Masked puffer fish. View of a masked puffer fish, Arothron diadematus, swimming among coral. Puffers are named for their habit of blowing up their bodies when they are irritated. Its skin is leathery, coarse and scaleless. Almost all puffers have pointed spines which normally lie flat against the body when the fish is quiet. When the fish is challenged it gulps water to puff out its body, and the spines are erected. In this way, like a porcupine, they present themselves to the enemy as a swollen ball of spikes. With few exceptions, puffers occur only in warm seas. Photographed in the Red Sea at Port Safaga, Egypt.
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