⌛ Unknown Fish #1

I snorkle mostly right smack dab in front of the Bethel House (Up and down Rizal Blvd) and this is where I got this guy. It was early afternoon and he was pretty dormant. He seemd to be about 30 - 35 cm and probably a couple of kilograms in wieght. I have seen fish like him but it is his eyes that I had not seen before.

This is as big as I can get with the 100K file restriction

 

Unknown fish is AROTHRON MAPPA !

Well that is the scientific name . It is also called Mapped Blowfish or Puffer. THis fish is VERY RARE !!! I am so much amazed that you found it in front of the Boulevard !! It s big fish indeed.. They have no teeth but parrot ike mandebills ( beak) that will grow their entire life. That is a neccesity as their diet is containing clams , shellfish mostly, but they also accept all kind of worms and shrimp . Easy to "train " in an aquarium , the can become very affected to the keeper , indeed. They belong to the family of TETRADONTIDAE (puffers) and have a gland that contains a very powerful toxine name Tetradontoxine which is some time under study at Pharma R&D to find a cure against Multiple Sclerosis amoungst others .This fish belong to the same family that is very well known in Japan for the FUGA Dinner of which every years some 700 people overthere simply "drop dead " while eating it. Several reports lately on GMA and other national networks tell us the same.!!! The flesh is SARAP , a strong Afrodisiac but the fish need to be gutted in the right way .

Your fish was either a sleep or trying to do so , this results in dark patches on the body. To the same Family belong the Box fish .I have attached a picture of the Ostracion Meleagris meleagris. This is the male .The female and juveniles or black with white spots as seen in the background..Picture is taken in one of my former laboratory holding facilities . Ostracion are also toxic Their Toxine is named Ostarciontoxine. The blue box fish like this one is known fro many places within the Philippines .

 

Thank you much Earl, you are a wealth of knowledge

Sorry for the late reply I was out of town until today.

 

puffer fish are fatally poisonous. In Japan and korea(most puffer fish import by koreans are frozen )they are a delicacy after the poison has been removed but eating them can still be fatal.About 100 diners die each year after eating puffer fish.:D

 

Vagabond, If you KNOW !! HOW to remove the bladder that contains the Tetratoxine the fish is save to eat . Problem is very little people know HOW to do it right . And I am not going to tell it either !! My source of information give me a figure of 700 !! fatal dinners but then again even a 100 according to Vagabond is pretty much already .

 

:D i'm sorry for misinfo.you're right earl,there are people know how to remove the poison from puffer fish and there are so many adventurous puffer fish eater died because of ignorance.