• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 1999

To obtain fundamental data for sperm cryopreservation in river puffer (Takifugu obscurus), the proper conditions of cryopreservation were investigated. In the sperm cryopreservation of river puffer, marine fish Rinser's solution (MFRS) was found to be good diluent and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was proved to be superior to glycerol as a cryoprotectant. The highest fertilization rate was achieved when river puffer sperms were cryopreserved with MFRS adding 5％ DMSO.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.708-715
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• 2023

Hybridization is a major production method used to combine beneficial traits from two different species to obtain a potentially dominant trait. In China, Takifugu obscurus and T. rubripes were artificially crossed, and the resulting hybrids had an average body weight 38.06-8.93% higher than that of the parental species, which enabled the hybrids to be grown in freshwater. This study aimed to provide the basic data necessary for the classification of T. obscurus♀×T. rubripes♂ hybrids in terms of economic value and market potential. Morphological comparing the morphology of hybrids and parental species, we discovered that the hybrids had intermediate traits of the parental species. In morphometrics, the hybrid index (HI) value of head length against standard length was close to the trait of T. rubripes, and the HI values of preanal length and predorsal length were close to those of T. obscurus; however, the HI values of nasal length, snout length, length of anal fin, length of pectoral fin, caudal peduncle depth and caudal peduncle length were found to be unique characteristics of the hybrids. Regarding molecular analysis, a 99.8% nucleotide sequence similarity was found between the hybrid and T. obscurus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Aquaculture Society Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.467-469
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• 2006

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.408-412
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• 1997

The cytogenetic analysis of river puffer, Takifugu obscurus belongs to Family Tetraodontidae, was performed. The chromosome number of T. obscurus was 44 and the fundamental number was 64. Heteromorphic sex chromosomes were not found. The mean cellular size and nuclear size were $11.01\times7.95{\mu}m$ and $4.05\times3.15{\mu}m$, respectively. The mean surface area and volume in cell and nucleus were $68.76{\mu}m^2\;and\;366.00{\mu}m^3,\;10.06{\mu}m^2\;and\;21.36{\mu}m^3$, respectively. The number of erythrocyte of both female and male was $12\~13\times10^5/m\ell$. Gill tissues from diploid individuals had cells with one or two nucleoli. These cytogenetic studies should be used for cytotaxonomy and as a valuable estimation of polyploidy to come in T. obscurus.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.129-137
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• 2007

Skeletal deformity in hatchery-reared river puffer (Takifugu obscurus) fingerlings occurred. The vertebral abnormality was recognized with naked eyes 80 days after hatching. Affected fish had a good appetite but no clinical signs were found except the vertebral abnormality. As more than 90% of the hatchery-reared fish exhibited vertebral abnormality, the fingerlings could not be used for commercial seeds any more. Morphological changes in the vertebrate and the swim bladder were observed with a soft X-ray. Histopathological changes on the caudal muscle around the deformed vertebrae, gill, and spleen were also examined to clarify the cause of the deformity. Spinal curvature occurred between vertebrae 10 and 12, but any malfunction of the swim bladder was not found. The diameters of the muscle fibers around the deformed vertebrae were much smaller and more irregular than those in normal fish, and the gabs between the fiber bundles were greatly enlarged. No evidence of inflammation response was found in the muscle layer. In the hatchery, feed was putting at the position of water inflow, which might attract the fingerings to move toward the feed in spite of incomplete development of their caudal muscle fibers. From these results, it is suggested that the high speed of water current in rearing aquaria might be associated with the development of vertebral abnormality.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.243-246
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• 1999

To obtain the basic data for the preservation of river puffer (Takifugu obscurus) sperm, experiments were carried out on the physico-chemical properties and cold storage of milt. The average number of sperm and spermatocrit in milt stripped were $1.13\pm0.34\times10^{10}/ml$ and 64.8$\pm$1.4, respectively. Osmolality of seminal fluid was 266$\pm$2 mOsm/kg, Total protein and total lipid from sperm were higer than that from seminal fluid. $Ca^{2+}$ and $Na^{+}$ concentrations were higher in the seminal fluid than in the sperm, while $Mg^{2+}$ and $K^{+}$ concentrations were lower in the seminal fluid. When sperm of river puffer were preserved in $0\pm0.5^{\circ}C$ with various diluents for 16 days, fertilization rate was $0\~0.7\%$. It suggested that cold storage of river puffer sperm was detrimental to sperm fertility.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 1998

Two species of the parasitc copepods, Clavellopsis hugu (Lemaeopodidae; Siphonostomatoida) and Taeniacanthus yamagutii (Taeniacanthidae; Poecilostomatoida) from cultured Korean fish, Takifugu obscurus, is described and reported for the first time in Korea. The parasite was recovered from the buccal cavity, nose and skin. Clavellopsis hugu is easily identified by the body shape, 2nd antenna, mandible and 2nd maxillae. In female, cephalothorax flexed dorsally, second antenna biramose, mandible with serrate blade, second maxillae completely fused at base of cephalothorax. In male, cephalothorax and trunk fused into an ovoid, two pairs of maxillipeds chelate. The most distinctive features of Taeniacanthus yamagutii are terminal process of second maxilla stout, maxilliped claw with conspicuous digitiform process at base and a setiform element at the tip of each exopod spine of legs 2-4. Both parasitic copepod species are new to the Korean fauna. The korean fish, Takifugu obscurus should be considered as an additional host of this species because these parasite were recovered from the western coast of Korea (Boryung Hatchery).

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.6-15
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• 2021

Various biometric and geometric measures were used to discriminate between the morphologically similar river puffer, Takifugu obscurus, tiger puffer, T. rubripes, their hybrids, and their triploid hybrids. The hybrids and triploid hybrids had greater anal fin width, nostril width, and snout length than the parental species (p<0.05). However, they had less caudal peduncle depth, inter-orbital width, head length, and head width(p<0.05). The morphometric and meristic characteristics of the hybrids and triploid hybrids were either intermediate between the parental species or more similar to those of one parental species. However, the external morphology of the hybrids and triploid hybrids was predominantly maternal. The triploid hybrids had asymmetry in the fin rays and gill raker numbers. This study identified phenotypic characteristics by distinguishing the morphological variables of river puffer, tiger puffer, their hybrids, and their triploid hybrids.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.251-258
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• 2011

To investigate whether the rearing environmental factors (size heterogeneity, rearing density, and feeding frequency) affect the growth and cannibalism of fry in cultured puffer Takifugu obscurus, we conducted three experiments. To examine size effects, we used small (total length [TL] $26.0{\pm}0.5\;mm$, body weight [BW] $0.18{\pm}0.01\;g$), medium (TL $23.1{\pm}0.1\;mm$, BW $0.28{\pm}0.01\;g$), large (TL $26.0{\pm}0.2\;mm$, BW $0.48{\pm}0.01\;g$) and small-large size combination groups. For density, we used size-matched puffers (TL $25.0{\pm}0.5\;mm$, BW $0.53{\pm}0.03\;g$) and five density were examined ranging from 1.43 to 7.14 individuals/L. For the feeding frequency, we also used size-matched fry and feeding frequencies of three times/2 days, one time/day, two times/day, three times/day. We ran each experiment in triplicate and investigated the survival rate, daily food intake (DFI), feed efficiency (FE), and daily growth rate (DGR). The growth of the puffers increased with increasing size, density, and feeding frequency, while cannibalism increased with a greater size gap, density and lower feeding frequency. Therefore, we concluded that size, rearing density, and feeding frequency are major factors influencing growth and cannibalism of the puffer, T. obscurus.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.577-583
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• 2001

The digestive enzyme activities such as $\alpha-amylase$, trypsin and pepsin from the laboratory-reared river puffer Takifugu obscurus were measured from the time course of 1 day until the 65 day after hatching. In the case of $\alpha-amylase$, it was showed minimum activity of 0.0493 U/mg at the total length (TL) 10 mm, and showed maximum activity of 0.1480 U/mg at 19 mmTL. Trypsin and pepsin were showed their maximum activities of 0.0264, 0.0258 U/mg and 0.0178, 0.0201 U/mg when the total length of 16 and 24 mm, and represented remarkable correlations between the changes of enzyme activity and growth rate. The ontogenetic variations of digestive enzymes were represented clearly different patterns; i.e, the pepsin showed higher activity when the periods of larva ($4\~5\;mmTL$) and juvenile II ($19\~24\;mmTL$), however, the trypsin represented maximum activity at the stages of juvenile I ($11\~16\;mmTL$) and young fish (27 mmTL), respectively.