This is an observation of a little type of pufferfish called a Toby. Whilst I was reviewing my old underwater fish pictures for evidence of behaviour, I recalled that this diminutive little thing doesn’t tend to flee quite so fast as might be expected for its size when a threat appears. I suspect this is related to its skin toxicity. This article notes that its main skin toxin (TTX) is exogenous, i.e. it is accumulated from its toxic food (e.g. starfish). The behaviours I find weird are that:
- it eats TTX-laden food without dying and,
- it seems to act as if it knows it is poisonous to predators.