The fahaka pufferfish (from ), also known as the Nile puffer, globe fish, lineatus puffer (''Tetraodon lineatus''), is a tropical

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

pufferfish Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfis ...

found in the upper

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

, Geba, Volta and Turkana basins in

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

and

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

Characteristics

Fahaka pufferfish can reach up to in length. They have the ability to inflate when threatened and, like many puffers, carry the toxin

tetrodotoxin Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin. Its name derives from Tetraodontiformes, an Order (biology), order that includes Tetraodontidae, pufferfish, porcupinefish, ocean sunfish, and triggerfish; several of these species carry the toxin. Alt ...

. Fahaka pufferfish, like other

molluscivore A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specialises in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods and cephalopods. Known molluscivores include numerous predatory (and often cannibalistic) molluscs, (e.g. octopuses, murexes, ...

s, feed mainly on

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

organisms which may include freshwater

mussels Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

and

snail A snail is a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gas ...

s. They are typically found in large rivers, open water, weed beds and vegetated fringes. In the River Nile, the recorded average lifespans of Fahaka pufferfish have measured about five years. Researchers AbouelFadl and Farrag have measured the

gonadosomatic index In biology, the gonadosomatic index (GSI) is the calculation of the gonad mass as a proportion of the total body mass. It is represented by the formula: GSI = onad weight / total tissue weight× 100 It is a tool for measuring the sexual maturit ...

of the Fahaka pufferfish to increase from April to August. They have interpreted these readings to suggest a spawning season during this period.

Gallery

File:Tetraodon lineatus 14553846.jpg, Inflated, Ethiopia File:Tetraodon lineatus - Fahaka Puffer (8767208722).jpg File:Tetraodon lineatus 1907.jpg, 1907 illustration

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:pufferfish, fahaka fahaka pufferfish fahaka pufferfish fahaka pufferfish