Head to head
Triggerfish vs Pufferfish
Triggerfish and pufferfish are cousins in the same order, share a slow fin-powered swimming style, and often turn up together on the same reef. Their defences could hardly be more different, and so could the risk they pose to a person.
| Triggerfish | Pufferfish | |
|---|---|---|
| Order | Tetraodontiformes (Balistidae) | Tetraodontiformes (Tetraodontidae) |
| Body shape | Firm and diamond-shaped | Rounded; can inflate |
| Main defence | Locking dorsal spine, tough skin, hard bite | Inflates into a spiny ball; toxic flesh |
| Toxin | None | Tetrodotoxin in organs and skin |
| Teeth | Chisel-like; crushes coral and urchins | Fused into a beak; crushes shellfish |
| Risk to people | Painful bite; some species charge divers at the nest | Deadly if eaten unprepared |
| Inflation | Cannot inflate | Swells 2 to 3 times its size with water |
| Eaten by people | Yes, a common food fish | Fugu, only from licensed preparers |
Triggerfish vs Pufferfish: common questions
Are triggerfish and pufferfish the same family?
Same order, different family. They both sit in the Tetraodontiformes, an order of highly modified fish that also holds the filefish, boxfish, porcupinefish, and the giant ocean sunfish. Triggerfish are the family Balistidae and pufferfish the family Tetraodontidae. They share a lot of anatomy, including the slow, precise swimming style that undulates the soft dorsal and anal fins while keeping the body rigid, small round gill slits, and strong fused or chisel-like teeth for eating hard prey. Where they diverge is defence, with triggerfish going the route of armour and a locking spine and pufferfish the route of inflation and poison.
Can you eat triggerfish and pufferfish?
Triggerfish, yes and freely. Several species, especially the grey triggerfish of the Atlantic, are prized food fish with firm, sweet white flesh, and the only real caution is that reef triggerfish from certain areas can carry ciguatera, a toxin that accumulates up the reef food chain and is not specific to triggerfish. Pufferfish are a different matter. Prepared as fugu in Japan and a few other countries, they are a delicacy, but the tetrodotoxin in the liver, ovaries, intestines, and skin is deadly and has no antidote, so preparation is restricted to chefs who are licensed after years of training. Eating pufferfish that has not been expertly cleaned kills people most years.
Which is more dangerous to a snorkeler or diver?
On the reef, the triggerfish, and specifically the large titan and yellowmargin triggerfish when they are guarding a nest in the warmer months. A guarding triggerfish will leave its nest to charge an intruder and can deliver a serious bite. A pufferfish poses almost no threat in the water; it is placid, slow, and only inflates if grabbed, and its poison is a danger only if the fish is eaten. So the practical advice is to give a patrolling triggerfish a wide berth and to retreat sideways along the bottom rather than upward, and simply to leave pufferfish alone.