''Takifugu rubripes'', commonly known as the Japanese puffer, Tiger puffer, or torafugu ( ja, 虎河豚), is a
pufferfish in the genus ''
Takifugu
''Takifugu'' is a genus of pufferfish, often better known by the Japanese name . There are 25 species belonging to the genus ''Takifugu'' and most of these are native to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific, but a few species are ...
''. It is distinguished by a very small
genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...
that has been fully sequenced because of its use as a model species and is in widespread use as a reference in genomics.
Taxonomy and etymology
The species is often referred to in the genomics literature as ''Fugu rubripes''. The genus ''Fugu'' is a synonym of the currently preferred ''
Takifugu
''Takifugu'' is a genus of pufferfish, often better known by the Japanese name . There are 25 species belonging to the genus ''Takifugu'' and most of these are native to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific, but a few species are ...
''. ''Takifugu'' is Japanese for puffer and ''rubripes'' comes from the Latin ''ruber'' and ''pēs'' meaning ruddy foot.
Distribution and habitat
The species is known from the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...
,
East China Sea and
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...
north to southern Sakhalin, at depths of . It is a demersal species. Spawning occurs in estuaries; young fish can tolerate a wide range of salinities and will remain in river mouths and lagoons, maturing for one year before migrating permanently to the open ocean.
[
]
Genome
A feature of this species is that it has a very small genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding g ...
, which is used as a ‘reference’ for identifying genes and other elements in human and other vertebrate genomes. The genome was published in 2002 by the International Fugu Genome Consortium via Shotgun sequencing, whole genome shotgun sequencing. After being initiated in 1989, it was the first vertebrate genome after the human genome to be made publicly available.
Toxicity
As some other pufferfish, some organs of the Japanese puffer contain tetrodotoxin and are highly toxic. The toxin is highly concentrated in liver and ovaries, slightly present in the intestines and flesh, and absent from skin and testes.[
]
Conservation
The Japanese puffer is classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN. It is one of the most valuable commercial fishes in Japan, and although current catches (101 tonnes / year in 2004, down from a peak of 2,000 tonnes in 1987) are small compared to those of many other commercial species such as sardines and anchovy, they appear to be unsustainable and prevent the recovery of the species from earlier over-exploitation. Gear restrictions (most catches occur by longline fishing) and adjustments of fishery seasons to protect juveniles have been recommended to aid recovery. The species is extensively raised in aquaculture.[
]
References
External links
Fugu Genome Project
* View th
fugu genome
on Ensembl
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1065355
Takifugu, rubripes
Fish described in 1850
Animal models
Genomics