📸 PhotoPhoto: zhao · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Obscure pufferfish
Takifugu obscurus (Obscure pufferfish · メフグ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum length of 40 cm is almost the same as the long side of an A3 sheet of paper (42 cm) (Comparison).
- 💡 According to the National List of Species of Korea, it is farmed and used for raw fish dishes and soups, and is said to taste best in April and May when swimming upriver to spawn, though its ovaries, liver, intestines, and skin contain poison.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The obscure pufferfish is a pufferfish living along the Yellow Sea coast and in river estuaries, swimming upstream in spring to spawn. It has a yellow longitudinal stripe along the side of its body.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is rounded and club-shaped, with small spines on the skin that make it rough. The back is blackish-brown, the belly is white, with a yellow longitudinal stripe between them, and it can inflate its belly roundly. Its ovaries, liver, intestines, and skin contain poison.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It feeds on small bottom-dwelling invertebrates, fry, and fish eggs. From April to June, it lays eggs on gravel riffles in rivers, and young fish stay in estuaries until autumn.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
The National List of Species of Korea notes that it formerly lived in the estuaries of many rivers flowing into the Yellow Sea, but is now found only in the Imjin River and parts of the Han River.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2014) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/169599/65114097
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 54KPY
- • iucnredlist.org — 65114097
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000059413 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000059413
- • wikidata.org — Q1049891
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Takifugu Obscurus.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Takifugu-obscurus.html
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Takifugu rubripes rubripes)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.