Tetraodontiformes

The Family Tetraodontidae and its Toxic Defense Mechanism Tetraodontidae, a family commonly known as the pufferfish, uses unique defense mechanisms in the wild to protect themselves against predators. Pufferfish diet consists mainly of invertebrates, so they are not viewed as dangerous or predatory animals in their ecosystems. These defense mechanisms are necessary to the survival of the Tetraodontidae family. The Tetraodontidae family’s defense mechanisms of inflation and use of the deadly neurotoxin tetrodotoxin make the family especially devastating to any predator that dares to ingest it. Tetraodontiforme is an order of the Acanthomorpha taxon, which primarily consists of spiny, ray finned fish with unsegmented spines (Tyler, et al., 2007). Out of the 16,000 species of…