pufferfish

plural pufferfishes

1. countableuncountableAny species of fish of the family Tetraodontidae that have the ability to inflate themselves to a globe several times their normal size by swallowing water or air when threatened; puffer, blowfish, swellfish, balloonfish, globefish.

   Recently, however, a scientist in Britain proposed a short cut that would use the genome of the fugu, a pufferfish known as a dangerous delicacy among Japanese sushi eaters, to speed the search for human genes.

   1993 December 28, James Younger, “Fishy Short Cut To Mapping Human Genome”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 08 Dec 2024

2. uncountableThe meat of these fish, a delicacy popular in Japan served raw as sushi that may, if improperly prepared, contain deadly levels of neurotoxins; (Japanese) fugu.