From the GreenTracks Amazon Herping Tour 10/06 - 10/13, 2018
from Dante Fenolio
Notes from the Amazon No244: The Amazon Puffer (Colomesus asellus) has a wide distribution in the Amazon and its tributary rivers. The species can tolerate some salt in the water; inasmuch, it and can be found in coastal brackish waterways. It is a fish common to the aquarium hobby. Like other pufferfishes, these fish are poisonous to predators that try to consume them. One of the prominent skin toxins in this species is saxitoxin. The toxin that pufferfishes are so infamous for defending themselves with, tetrodotoxin, appears to be in very low concentration in this species, if present at all. Interestingly for those familiar with tetrodotoxin, the species of pufferfishes that wield the poison for defense do not appear to produce the toxic substance; rather, symbiotic bacteria produce the compound and live on the bodies of the fishes. This individual was photographed in Iquitos, Loreto, Peru, October 2018. I know I have said this before, and that to someone not familiar with the severity of the situation I sound like a broken record, but we need to do more to save the amazing biodiversity of the Amazon Basin. Please support any conservation organization with which you connect. Funding is what makes the difference.
https://www.greentracks.com/Amazon-Herping.html
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