| Burrfish, Striped
Cyclichthys schoepfi, Family: Diodontidae (Porcupinefishes)
Also referred to as Porcupinefish, Spiney Boxfish, which is slightly in error as Boxfish are Family Ostraciidae, it should really be called a spiney puffer instead. Spines are thick and sturdy. Above striped black/brown wavy lines on green-brown, belly offwhite or golden yellow. Dark spots at dorsal and anal fine bases and above/behinde the pectoral fin base. Single tooth forming beakshaped mouth. No pelvic fins. Feeds on soft foods like bits of worm, small shrimp, etc. Found in shallow bay areas during summer, wintering in deeper waters. Ranges: Western Atlantic: from Nova Scotia (Canada), Maine (USA), Bahamas, and northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil. Very uncommon north of the Carolinas, it was a surprise to catch this specimen. Puffs up just like our regular blowfish.
Top specimen courtesy of Tom Puzino.
Bottom specimen courtesy of John Kocinski.
Puffers
There are about 12 species that may be found on the East coast of the U.S.A. Of those, only the Nothern Puffer is considered edible for safety reasons.
We have only 3 Puffers in our online guide at this time:
Burrfish - Northern -
Smoothback
MAY NOT BE SAFELY EDIBLE! Most puffers produce tetrodotoxin. "Pufferfish can be lethal if not served properly. Puffer poisoning usually results from consumption of incorrectly prepared puffer soup, fugu chiri, or occasionally from raw puffer meat, sashimi fugu"~Wikipedia.org
Human interaction - Poisioning - Wikipedia
Are pufferfish edible? - Yahoo! Answers
FUGU (BLOWFISH) IN JAPAN
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