The Northern Puffer
Group 12
By : Jonathan Foo, Eugene Goncharov
Introduction
For the past couple of months, group 12 has looking at the Northern Puffer and the
possible causes for its disappearance from the Great South Bay over the years. Back in the
1960s, the northern puffer was a very abundant fish that was easy catch. It was considered a
commercial fish and was very popular because its meat was considered delicious and was
sought by many. Today however the puffer is very rare and is very hard to find in the Great
South Bay and now is usually caught by accident. We have looked at the possible scenarios of
how a fish that was once abundant in the Great South Bay is now thought to be gone from the
bay. We have looked at the possible changes that could have occurred over the years and have
come up a number of hypotheses for the fish’s disappearance. One of our main hypotheses has
to do with the changes the bay has seen over the years. Back in the 1950s and 60s, Long Island
and the Great South Bay was considered a remote and quiet place. However today it is a major
attraction for vacationers and boaters which add to the rapid growth of the population as well
as urbanization of the area. Another one of our hypotheses was that the fish’s main source of
food over the years had disappeared forcing the fish to move elsewhere. We may have multiple
hypotheses however all of the problems that the puffer fish are all interconnected.
The Northern Puffer
Puffer fish can be found in warm coastal waters throughout the world. However there
are only about 12 species that exist in North American waters. Some species of the puffer
family are notorious for possessing tetraodontoxin, a poison concentrated in the livers and
ovaries, which can cause grave illness or death if ingested. The Japanese fugu fish is particularly
toxic; nevertheless it is considered a delicacy when properly prepared.[8]
The northern puffer, also known as 'sea squab', is not toxic, and also is considered
delicious to eat. Actually many years ago the northern puffer was an important food fish in
Atlantic coastal waters until the 1960s. The northern puffer grows to a mature length of around
10 to 14 inches. Its small, club-shaped body, like that of most puffers, is not designed to make it
an efficient swimmer. There are no pelvic fins, and its pectoral fins are broad. The puffer moves
its tail fins back and forth like a paddle to propel itself forward.[7] When threatened the puffer
dramatically inflates its body by drawing water, or sometimes air (into a specialized chamber
near the stomach. Once inflated, the puffer's body prevents its predator from gripping or biting
the body firmly. According to scientific reports, the puffer's body is so tough that while inflated
it can be stood upon by a grown man without sustaining damage.[7]
The northern puffer is covered with small spines or prickles, appears grayish brown
dorsally, with black splotches. There are black bars on its lower sides, and it has a yellow to
white underbelly. Like most puffers it has two teeth in each jaw, fused to resemble a beak.
There are eight dorsal fin soft rays and seven anal fin rays.
Northern puffers visit the lower Chesapeake Bay from early spring through autumn and
depart in winter for deeper offshore waters. They spawn from May to August along the
shallows, depositing their eggs on the substrate. Males are territorial and aggressive when
confronting other males.
The puffer feeds on small crabs and mollusks, snails, sea urchins and echinoderms. Once
a popular commercial species, the puffer or sea squab's numbers have dropped sharply and are
caught only incidentally today, usually in spring in pound nets, in autumn in crab pots or by
recreational anglers from boat or shore.
The Great South Bay
The Great South Bay is a lagoon that's situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in
the state of New York. [3] It is approximately 45 miles (72 km) long. It's protected from the
Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island
and Captree Island. At 151 square miles the Great South Bay is the largest shallow saltwater bay
in New York State. Since the Great South Bay is an estuary, 5231 gallons of fresh water flow into
the bay every second. 11% of that, or 575 gallons comes in directly through the bay floor. The
bay is also an ideal habitat for organisms. In fact 85 species of fish have been identified in the
bay, 40 of which are present on a regular basis. The Great South Bay is also very shallow, its
average depth is 4 feet 3 inches (4' 3") and at its deepest is 20 feet. [4] At one time half of the
nation’s clams were harvested here, but over harvesting and pollution from suburban
development have almost completely wiped out the clam population.
During the peak years in the late 1970’s you could almost walk across the bay from clam boat to
clam boat. By the mid 1990’s you would still see a few clammers working. Just a few years later,
they were all gone. Blue Points Oysters, and scallops were large fisheries as well. The Blue
Points died out when hurricanes blew holes in Fire Island letting seawater in from the Atlantic
which increased the bay’s salinity beyond what the oysters could take.
Possible Cause #1
In the 1920s and 1930s, Long Island began the transformation from backwoods and
farms to the scene of American cities. Railroads made possible commuting suburbs before
construction of the Long Island Expressway and other major roadways. Robert Moses created
various parkway projects to span the island, along with state parks for the enjoyment of many.
Gradually development started to follow the parkways, with various communities springing up
along the more traveled routes.[3]
After World War II, Long Island's population skyrocketed, mostly in Nassau county and
western Suffolk county. People who worked and lived in New York City moved out to Long
Island in new developments built during the post-war boom.
This large population boom and the rapid urbanization of Long Island may have been
good for the people however it had a terrible effect on the ecosystem. As the development of
Long Island continues and the population continued to grow, with it grew the destruction of the
ecosystem such as the wetlands which is a major ecosystem where multiple species including
the northern puffer call home, were being destroyed. This could have been a possible reason
for the northern puffer’s disappearance because the loss of its habitat might have been too
much for the fish to handle and it might have been forced to go elsewhere.
Because there was such a rush to urbanize Long Island, this caused a population boom
in the area. This has been a problem because the Great South Bay has become a major tourist
destination which adds on to all the problems already created by locals. With the urbanization
of Long Island came the destruction of wetlands and also a large amount of pollution being
created. Since there are so many people in the area, pollution in the area became a major
problem with the bay. The Great South Bay became a very popular destination for boaters as
well as people looking to go to the beach. All the pollution created by visitors plus the fact that
there are waste treatment plants in the area has really changed the chemical levels of the bay
over the years.
Possible Cause #2
In the 1970s more than half of the hard clams eaten in the entire United States came from the
Great South Bay. When clams were abundant, they also filtered 40% of the water in the Great
South Bay — every single day. [1]
But overharvesting caused a great decline in shellfish populations, and today there are only
enough hard clams to filter about 1% of this vast body of water daily.
Without shellfish, water quality declines - and creatures that depend on clams, scallops, and
oysters as a food source (including humans) also suffer.[1]
Clams, scallops and other bivalves are filter-feeders. Without them in abundance, harmful algae
blooms (also known as brown tide) can become worse. Brown tide also shades seagrass
meadows, preventing them from getting ample sunlight, and seagrass provides a home for
shellfish to live! This has probably caused further harm to the shellfish population. In some
areas of Great South Bay shellfish numbers are so low that they are unable to recover on their
own.[2]
We believe this could be one of the main reasons for the fish’s disappearance because of the
massive loss of its food source in the area. We have noticed that the loss of clams over the
years matches the loss of the puffer fish so this has led us to believe that as the clam population
declined so did the puffer fish. We also believe that since clams are filter feeders, the pollution
in the bay may have killed off the clams as well as overharvesting by fishermen.
Conclusion
The Northern Puffer had many different reasons to disappear from the Great South Bay.
Nobody knows the real answer to why it went to being a common and abundant fish to a fish
rarely seen anymore. It’s disappearance could have been caused by a combination of factors or
it could have been only caused by one. Either way something needs to be done to bring back
the fish. Over the years the bay has suffered some permanent damage however over the years
things have been done to try and protect the ecosystem. Laws have been passed and programs
have been set up to try and fix the damage done over the years. For example there are
programs now to try and seed clams into the bay and laws have been passed to stop pollution
from getting into the bay. Eventually if changes are made the northern puffer might return the
waters of the Great South Bay some day.
Bibliography
1. http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/newyork/science/ar
t21714.html
2. http://www.nature.org/initiatives/marine/files/ny_great_south_bay_clam_marc
h_2008.pdf
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_South_Bay
4. http://www.loving-long-island.com/great-south-bay.html
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_puffer
6. http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_northern_puffer.aspx?menuitem=14403
7. http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=1181
8. web.mac.com/biomescenter/.../essay:_northern_pufferfish.html