Incidentally, their sense of smell is very strong. My fahaka is not fooled when I sneak a live snail into the back of his tank... He smells something snailey and investigates immediately!
Yeah...apparently cos of the extra space taken up by their teeth, their olfactory, or smell, organs have been shunted to the outside.
I used to call them their eyebrows till I found out what they were. Actually, I still do, but yeah, that's what they are...a nose, so to speak.
Pami.
Since fish do not have a connection between the "nose" smell/taste organs and the mouth/gills (their respiratory tract), externals are more effective than internals. Format and number of components is useful in ID for some species, comparable to the barbel numbers and brach structures in catfish.
My Puffers: Puffers I have kept: T lineatus T miurus A modestus T biocellatus C valentini C coranata C papuan C lorteti DPs suvattii burrfish T niphobles