Are pufferfish mammals? A detailed look at the biological classification of pufferfish
Many friends are probably not very familiar with pufferfish, having only seen them on TV or in books, and knowing very little about them. For example, are pufferfish mammals? Let's take a look together!
1. Are pufferfish mammals?
Pufferfish are mammals, the collective name for animals of the superfamily Platanistoidea. River dolphins are the most human-friendly mammals among mammals, and they are adorable.
2. Habits and characteristics of pufferfish
Pufferfish are larger in body size than dolphins; they can grow to 3 m long. Unlike dolphins, their heads can rotate 90 degrees, which gives them an advantage in complex river channels. Sometimes, like dolphins, they also chase fish schools collectively to improve feeding efficiency. Their jaws have sensitive hairs, which are said to be tactile organs for hunting crustaceans in the mud. They have broad pectoral fins, which improve their flexibility in narrow river channels; with the help of their tail fins, their speed can also reach 23km/h in a short time.
3. Name misconceptions
Modern animal taxonomy has already clearly defined them: pufferfish (hetun, river puffer) and river dolphins are actually two different classes of aquatic animals, but they are usually mistaken for one. The pufferfish belongs to the class Pisces and is the collective name for fish of the family Tetraodontidae in the order Tetraodontiformes, distributed in offshore waters and river estuaries; some species have highly toxic internal organs and blood (called “tetrodotoxin”). The river dolphin, however, is the collective name for animals of the family Platanistidae in the class Mammalia, including the baiji and others; they mainly live in rivers, and their abdominal internal organs are non-toxic. Note that the “hetun” mentioned here does not refer to the poisonous pufferfish (that is, the puffer fish), but is the collective name for river dolphins (which belong to aquatic mammals); the well-known dolphin happens to correspond to it. Dolphins are not called “dolphin fish” because they are not fish, but mammals.