How to Use puffer fish in a Sentence

puffer fish

noun
  • The puffer fish Fugu rubripes has the smallest genome of any vertebrate.
    — Bob Holmes, Discover Magazine, 21 May 2018
  • Pumpkin toadlets are poisonous, secreting the same toxin found in fugu, or puffer fish.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN, 1 May 2021
  • Nets full of presents and ornaments are suspended from the ceiling among the glowing puffer fish.
    — Washington Post, 10 Dec. 2021
  • Its shelves are lined with giant lobster claws, spiny skeletons of puffer fish, and vintage glass jars filled with tiny puka shells.
    — Jen Murphy, Travel + Leisure, 27 Feb. 2021
  • Practice slow and steady breathing with the help of a popular puffer fish, suggests Hall Brown.
    — Amy Capetta, Good Housekeeping, 31 May 2022
  • In the test, an antibody can bind to one of the spike proteins (the antigens) that cover the surface of the virus like the spines on a puffer fish.
    — Jim Daley, Scientific American, 7 May 2020
  • Hammerhead worms secrete tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin also found in puffer fish, which can cause a rash if touched with bare hands.
    — Emily Deletter, USA TODAY, 26 July 2023
  • The puffer fish is comically ugly but tasty enough that adventurous eaters ignore the fact that parts of it are poisonous.
    — Martin Finucane, BostonGlobe.com, 12 June 2019
  • Last weekend, Dominguez fit right in, dressed as a billowing psychedelic puffer fish that enveloped most of his face.
    — Patricia Leigh Brown, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2024
  • Similarly, if a friend didn’t invite you to a group hang or hasn’t answered one of your texts, a puffer fish might feel the urge to give them a taste of their own medicine.
    — Cassie Hurwitz, SELF, 24 Mar. 2026
  • When provoked, puffer fish release a nerve toxin; large doses of it can be deadly, but small amounts can produce a narcotic effect.
    — Andrews McMeel Syndication, Star Tribune, 18 June 2021
  • The sculptures, which started with a puffer fish in 2012, were inspired by a trip to Florida.
    — Deanna Weniger, Twin Cities, 23 Dec. 2019
  • The Chinese take-out eatery included a dining area themed to look like a Tiki lounge with bamboo, oars, totems and puffer fish lamps.
    — Brady MacDonald, Oc Register, 10 Oct. 2025
  • Why somebody acts like a puffer fish One key indicator for puffer-fishing could be attachment style, Newman says.
    — Cassie Hurwitz, SELF, 24 Mar. 2026
  • The Bartz sculptures, which started with a puffer fish in 2012, were inspired by a trip to Florida.
    — Staff Report, Twin Cities, 20 Jan. 2024
  • Custom itineraries could include a morning hike or a whale watching outlook, followed by snorkeling to spot sea turtles and puffer fish.
    — Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 26 Apr. 2023
  • For Thacher & Rye, the puffer fish are seasoned with barbecue spices and dappled with a sambal fueled in part with fish peppers, sorghum and red wine vinegar.
    — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 13 Nov. 2020
  • Similar to their cousin, the puffer fish, the porcupinefish is covered in strong spines and has the ability to swallow up water to puff up its body into an orb when threatened.
    — Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics, 17 Aug. 2022
  • The fact that your interviewer went into puffer fish mode and tried to shame you for committing some alleged breach of business etiquette should absolutely trip your warning system.
    — Washington Post, 26 Aug. 2021
  • The fish – a member of the puffer fish family – will be frozen and incinerated at local government facilities, Schinas said.
    — ABC News, 26 June 2026
  • Westerners have never quite understood the reverence in Japan for fugu, alternately known in English as puffer fish, globefish or blowfish, of the family Tetraodontidae.
    — New York Times, 4 Dec. 2020
  • The Hiramatsu puts a particular focus on food—the hotel actually started out as a restaurant—and makes use of local produce on Shima to curate a unique menu from spiny lobster, fugu (puffer fish), ormers and rock oysters.
    — Ashley Ogawa Clarke, Vogue, 27 Oct. 2022
  • The shipment included surgeonfish, puffer fish, lionfish, butterflyfish, octopuses, crabs, and starfish, all commonly sought for home aquariums and exotic collections.
    — Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 1 June 2026
  • Lin Qi, a brash gaming entrepreneur, was hospitalized in December 2020 for mercury poisoning and a neurotoxin similar to the kind found in puffer fish.
    — Jordan Riefe, Los Angeles Times, 11 June 2024
  • In more than a dozen fruit-forward drinks from bar director Nathaniel Smith, everything from the glassware (a glass puffer fish and a ceramic Great White shark) to the garnishes (a flamingo pool floatie) evokes summer fun in the tropics.
    — Tribune News Service, cleveland, 20 July 2021
  • Sarasota Bay Explorers’ Sea Life Encounter Cruise helps kids get up close and personal with puffer fish, stone crabs, and other local marine life that’s temporarily brought onboard with a trawl net for observation and education.
    — Beth Luberecki, USA Today, 30 June 2026
  • Its newest opening, the 187-room Risonare Shimonoseki, debuted in December on the busy harborfront of Shimonoseki, a food lovers’ destination an hour from Fukuoka and famous for fugu, the notoriously poisonous puffer fish.
    — Adam H. Graham, Time, 12 Mar. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'puffer fish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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