Tiger pufferfish total production thousand tonnes 1980-2022

''Takifugu rubripes'', commonly known as the Japanese puffer, Japanese pufferfish, Tiger puffer, or torafugu (), is a pufferfish in the genus '' Takifugu''. It is distinguished by a very small

genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...

that has been fully sequenced because of its use as a model species and is in widespread use as a reference in genomics.

Taxonomy and etymology

The species is often referred to in the genomics literature as ''Fugu rubripes''. The genus ''Fugu'' is a synonym of the currently preferred '' Takifugu''. ''Takifugu'' is Japanese for puffer and ''rubripes'' comes from the Latin ''ruber'' and ''pēs'' meaning ruddy foot.

Distribution and habitat

The species is known from the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, East China Sea and Yellow Sea north to southern Sakhalin, at depths of . It is a demersal species. Spawning occurs in

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

; young fish can tolerate a wide range of salinities and will remain in river mouths and lagoons, maturing for one year before migrating permanently to the open ocean.

Genome

A feature of this species is that it has a very small

, which is used as a 'reference' for identifying genes and other elements in human and other vertebrate genomes. The genome was published in 2002 by the International Fugu Genome Consortium via whole genome shotgun sequencing. After being initiated in 1989, it was the first vertebrate genome after the

human genome The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as the DNA within each of the 23 distinct chromosomes in the cell nucleus. A small DNA molecule is found within individual Mitochondrial DNA, mitochondria. These ar ...

to be made publicly available. It remains among the smallest known vertebrate genomes; its number of base pairs is ~6% and the number of previously known protein-coding genes ~13% that of the human genome, although the number of chromosomes (22) is comparable to that of humans (23). This makes it particularly useful for comparative studies. Current estimates show a total of 392,376,244

base pair A base pair (bp) is a fundamental unit of double-stranded nucleic acids consisting of two nucleobases bound to each other by hydrogen bonds. They form the building blocks of the DNA double helix and contribute to the folded structure of both DNA ...

s, 1,138 known and 18,093 novel protein-coding genes, and 593 RNA genes. One type of torafugu, 22-seiki fugu (meaning "22nd-century fugu"), has been genetically modified by removing four leptin receptor genes that control appetite. The result has increased appetite and weight gain, growing on average 1.9 times faster than normal torafugu. It is sold commercially as food.

Toxicity

As some other pufferfish, some organs of the Japanese puffer contain

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 ...

and are highly toxic. The toxin is highly concentrated in liver and ovaries, slightly present in the intestines and flesh, and absent from skin and testes.

Conservation

The Japanese puffer is classified as a

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. It is one of the most valuable commercial fishes in Japan, and although current catches (101 tonnes / year in 2004, down from a peak of 2,000 tonnes in 1987) are small compared to those of many other commercial species such as sardines and anchovy, they appear to be unsustainable and prevent the recovery of the species from earlier over-exploitation. Gear restrictions (most catches occur by longline fishing) and adjustments of fishery seasons to protect juveniles have been recommended to aid recovery. The species is extensively raised in aquaculture.

References

External links

Fugu Genome Project

* View th
fugu genome
on Ensembl {{Taxonbar, from=Q1065355 rubripes Fish described in 1850 Animal models Genomics Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck Taxa named by Hermann Schlegel