Some photos provided by YENNI LIONG-LAO, VICKY TAN-YAO, and ALVIN LAO
In a previous issue, I started narrating an adventure I had with my spotter swimming in a shallow reef near the beach where we were able to “invite” a Pufferfish I named Miss Slender for a photoshoot. Why Miss Slender? It is simply because she is the most slender Pufferfish whom I have ever encountered.
Even at first glance, I already noticed how slender she was compared to other Puffers. Naturally, despite being a slender Puffer, she still packed more girth than the regular Fishes we usually meet in the waters of the Palawan.
In the first part of this story, I was so fired up recounting the exciting events of that Sunday that I was not able to give the Puffer a proper introduction. In Filipino, we call a Puffer Butete. They are also known as Blowfish, Pufferfish, Balloonfish, Bubblefish, and as travel to Japan becomes more common, Fugu.
FATAL MISTAKE
All Puffers, except the group of species known as Porcupinefishes (known locally as Karatongan), are poisonous. Cooking and consuming the meat of the Pufferfishes can be fatal. (The special restaurants in Japan that serve Fugu must display their special license in an easily visible manner or they face stiff penalties from the regulating bodies.) Here in Palawan, a local family tragically lost a few family members because someone prepared a Pufferfish for dinner.
CURIOUS AND ALOOF
I have seen Pufferfish in aquariums abroad and not only do they look wonderful, but their “attitude” also adds to the fun companionship. Puffers are poisonous and they are usually left alone by other
marine life. Probably for this reason, almost all Pufferfishes I encounter in the wild have this aloof but curious behavior. While most fish swim away or hide upon my approach, a Puffer usually stays put while following my movement with their eyes.
The Puffers I saw in the aquarium exhibited the same behavior. They were aloof and almost snobbish, but at the same time curious about what was happening around them. They often stared at visitors intently and their cute little bodies swiveled in the water as their gaze followed walking visitors from one side of the aquarium to the other.
UNBOTHERED PUFFERS
While most big Fishes have already left the shallow areas of the sea due to human activity in most Palawan beaches, Pufferfishes are still abundant. I guess this makes sense, since no person or Fish hunts them.
But during my childhood years, they were even more abundant. Back then, I could actually catch Pufferfishes by hand, without using nets or any tools. I could coax a Pufferfish to settle on my hand and I could scoop them up.
Beach time was always fun with Pufferfishes around. As we scooped them up, they would blow into different types of roundness. Some could inflate only their tummies, while others could inflate their whole body into an oblong shape. Others still inflated into perfectly round balls.
SPINES AND SERIOUS INJURY
Some Puffers are perfectly smooth and slimy, like the Blackspotted Puffer and the Guineafowl Puffer.
Others, like the Striped Puffer, have soft skin extensions around their bodies that would make people think they were spines, when in fact those “spines” are soft to touch.
It is the Puffers of the Porcupinefish family who have needle-sharp spines and are capable of inflicting serious injury on the unfortunate handler. The model, Miss Slender, whom I was able to invite for that Sunday’s photoshoot, was a Striped Puffer or Narrow-Lined Puffer.
With Miss Slender safely inside our spacious net, my spotter Melissa and I started swimming toward the shore. Earlier that day, I thought I was having bad luck. We had been swimming for almost two hours and we almost ended up canceling our Puffer photoshoot due to the absence of candidates.
SPECIAL APPEARANCE OF A FLAT FELLOW
As we swam closer to the beach, I noticed from the corner of my eye a cloud of sand being blown up from the sea floor in an almost straight line. I knew from past experience that I was in the territory of a Tongue Sole. I was tempted to recruit this fella to be part of my photoshoot, but with Miss Slender’s safety in mind, I had to let the opportunity pass. It was quite funny, though, that we had the roundest Fish on the planet inside our net, and there beneath us lay the flattest Fish on the planet.
I have written about Flatfishes in Animal Scene’s September-October 2021 issue. All the fun memories about them came rushing back to my mind as we swam to our camp by the beach.
A few years ago, I got lucky and encountered both the Flounder and the Tongue Sole on the same night and at the same beach in El Nido. I usually encountered the Flounder in deeper waters, since they were bigger, stockier, and hunted bigger prey.
That same year at another beach in Bacungan, I was able to stalk and capture a big Flounder in waters four meters deep. Meanwhile, my daughters were able to catch a Tongue Sole at Bacungan beach in ankle-deep waters. As can be seen in the picture, the Flounder was much bigger than the Tongue Sole, who was themself a big specimen for their species. One can also see in the picture that a pail of seawater was nearby as a safety measure for our Fish guests.
However, Miss Slender’s company was proof that my fortune had changed.
