why no u.s.-puffs?

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Martin Hi.
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why no u.s.-puffs?

Post by Martin Hi. »

hi,
a question i always wanted to ask: why don´t all you us-users ever keep those most beautiful us-puffers like for example all the small and medium-sized spoeroides-species? if i lived in your country that would have been my first act...!
here in northern europe there is no chance to find puffers in the sea but i´m planning for a long time now to catch some in portugal/spain, while it could be a little difficult to import them. but in the us...?
martin
ps: sorry for my bad english!
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Phaedrus
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Post by Phaedrus »

I think in some states it is illegal to keep caught fish, and transporting them across state borders is also tricky. May be wrong there. They are also only available in local areas where you can catch them yourself, as there aren't any available in the commercial trade.
Martin Hi.
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Post by Martin Hi. »

hi,
i understand that. but there should be some people here that live in those states where it is allowed to keep and so they don`t have to get them over state-borders and where the puffers originally live. also i think it should not be a great problem to catch some, isn't`t it?
martin
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Rusty
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Post by Rusty »

what puffers im assuming he is talking to saltwater puffs in places like florida ? I am not aware of any us native freshwater species. could you clarify for me ?
Old fishermen never die, they just smell that way.
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Boxermom
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Post by Boxermom »

The only one I know if is Spoeroides nephelus aka Southern Puffer, which is a marine puffer from around Florida. Never heard of any other US puffers.
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Phaedrus
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Post by Phaedrus »

I know one of our Mentor members ChesapeakeSwellfish has caught some. See his post here: http://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/vie ... ght=#15606

Maybe he can chime in with his experiences in local puffer fish.
Martin Hi.
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Post by Martin Hi. »

oops?
at fishbase you will find this species listed for the u.s. and some more:
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Lagocephalus laevigatus native Smooth puffer Smooth puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Lagocephalus lagocephalus lagocephalus native Oceanic puffer Oceanic puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides annulatus native Bullseye puffer Bullseye puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides dorsalis native Marbled puffer Marbled puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides lispus native Naked puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides lobatus native Longnose puffer Longnose puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides maculatus native Northern puffer Northern puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides nephelus native Southern puffer Southern puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides pachygaster native Blunthead puffer Blunthead puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides parvus native Least puffer Least puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides spengleri native Bandtail puffer Bandtail puffer
Tetraodontiformes Tetraodontidae
(Puffers) Sphoeroides testudineus native Checkered puffer Checkered puffer
martin
ps: of course i´m only talking about seawaterspecies
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sassiegemstone
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Post by sassiegemstone »

Boxermom wrote:The only one I know if is Spoeroides nephelus aka Southern Puffer, which is a marine puffer from around Florida. Never heard of any other US puffers.
I've caught a few of them while I've been fishing. They got pretty emerald green eyes.

I wish I knew if they could survive in an aquarium and how big I would need.
If I could just save one of these, it would make me feel so good. Most of them are left on shore to die
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sassiegemstone
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Re: why no u.s.-puffs?

Post by sassiegemstone »

Martin Hi. wrote:hi,
a question i always wanted to ask: why don´t all you us-users ever keep those most beautiful us-puffers like for example all the small and medium-sized spoeroides-species? if i lived in your country that would have been my first act...!
here in northern Europe there is no chance to find puffers in the sea but i´m planning for a long time now to catch some in Portugal/Spain, while it could be a little difficult to import them. but in the us...?
martin
ps: sorry for my bad english!
I have one that was caught in the local brackish waters with a cast net. It is a Spiny Boxfish. Some fish are illegal to keep but if you don't get caught, it can't hurt. I live in NE Florida.
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Puffer Queen
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Post by Puffer Queen »

I have caught (with licensed collector) in the Florida Keys - diodon holocanthus, diodon hystrix, chilomycterus atringa and chilomycterus schoepfi and have them in my systems.
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Post by monsterpuffer »

I've heard of people catching them here in Charleston, SC and taking them home. Its one of the Diodon species similar to a porc.

MP
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sassiegemstone
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Post by sassiegemstone »

Puffer Queen wrote:I have caught (with licensed collector) in the Florida Keys - diodon holocanthus, diodon hystrix, chilomycterus atringa and chilomycterus schoepfi and have them in my systems.
Any additional advice on the chilomycterus schoepfi you can give me? Does yours have like a black stripe down its eyes? Mine does. I called the Florida Game Warden and it is not illegal to catch one puffer and take it home but if you are going to collect several then you have to have a license of some sort.

When my hubby caught mine there was a game warden there and he checked with him first.
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Shayla
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Re: why no u.s.-puffs?

Post by Shayla »

I can't even begin to guess what species it was (and it was more years than I care to count ago), but my Marine Bio HS class was seining in Jamaica Bay at the end of the summer (Gulf Stream time) and I ended up with this little fish cupped in my hands that, at the time, I thought spit up on me, it happened so fast and then was all over. Puff, white, puff, wee tiny fish again, jump and gone before I could even react. Now I know more, I'm glad to say it was still immersed when it puffed, and I'm glad to recall that it definitely unpuffed... I've no clue what it actually was, other than it was very small (I remember it as about the size of my Valentini, which is currently about 5-1/2 cm), sort of tan-ish, and obviously white bellied. I didn't have much time to get a good look at it before it was gone.

You could feel the temperature difference of the water it came in on -- ankles were cold, hips were cold, knees were quite warm (I remember hoping it found its way back to warm water again)... It definitely wasn't a fish I'd have expected to see in the salt marsh waters of New York City.

And yes, in case you're wondering, that little fish all those years ago is the reason I'm rather obsessed today.
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Post by Nick »

Thats would have to be the northern puffer, back many years ago they were a common food fish, and you could catch them all over long island. They're rare now, but not endangered as far as I know.
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Post by Apocalyptictoast »

The aquatic science classes at my school have caught puffers ( don't know what species ) in some marshes around Galveston.
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