Underwater Photography by Jay Torborg 

"Puffer Fish"

The teeth of the Spotted Puffer (Arothron maleagris) have fused to form a beak, used for scraping coral. Puffers have two means of defense. First, they can suck in massive amounts of water to puff themselves into a large ball (this one was about the size of a basketball). Second, if the size doesn�t deter a predator, the tetradotoxin in its liver and sex organs is one of the most powerful poisons known. Fugu, a pufferfish considered a gourmet delicacy in Japan, kills as many as 50 unlucky gourmets a year.

This puffer was photographed in about 40 feet of water off the south Kohala Coast near the Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Photographed with a Nikon N90s in a Sea&Sea NX90 housing with two Ikelite 200 strobes. Nikon 60mm f2.8 macro lens. Fuji Provia 100F transparency film scanned with a Nikon LS-2000.

Copyright Jay Torborg  2000, 2001