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puffer
puffer common name for some tropical marine fish of the family Tetraodontidae. The puffers and their allies, the boxfish, the porcupinefish, and the ocean sunfish or headfish, form an odd group (order Tetraodontiformes). The puffers, or swellfishes, named for their ability to inflate their bodies to three times normal size, are found all along the Atlantic coast, e.g., the northern puffer ( Sphaeroides maculatus ), and in the Pacific. Their prickly skin is exaggerated into stout spines in the porcupinefish (family Diodontidae) and the spiny boxfish, or burrfish, which are also able to inflate themselves. Like the puffers, they feed on marine invertebrates. The ocean sunfish, or headfish (family Molidae), occurs widely in all seas, although it prefers warmer waters. Its appearance is that of a huge head with fins attached, as its body does not taper. It moves clumsily and is usually seen basking in the sun. The ocean sunfish is one of the largest of all fishes, the record weight being about one ton (900 kg). It is harpooned for sport; except for the oil from its liver, it is of little value as food. Puffers and their allies are classified in the phylum Chordata , subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Tetraodontiformes. |
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"puffer." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "puffer." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-puffer.html "puffer." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-puffer.html |
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puffer
puffer, a bluff-bowed, Clyde-built, Scottish cargo boat, the heroine of Neil Munro's Para Handy tales, originally designed to fit the locks on the Forth and Clyde Canal. The first, the 20-metre (66-ft) iron-built Thomas launched in 1856, acquired the name because of the way her steam engine, which used fresh water from the canal instead of having a condenser, ‘puffed’ with every stroke. Later ones had condensers, so they did not ‘puff’, but they were still called puffers. Simple to operate, by the 1870s three types were in use: those working the Forth and Clyde Canal; the ‘shorehead’ ones that operated above Bute in the Firth of Clyde and on Loch Fyne; and the longer, 27-metre (88-ft) ones that were employed for trading with outlying Scottish islands. Later ones had diesel engines though the ones used as tenders to service the British fleet at Scapa Flow during both world wars were often steam powered. Puffers were still being built in the 1950s.
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"puffer." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "puffer." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-puffer.html "puffer." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-puffer.html |
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puffer
puff·er / ˈpəfər/ • n. 1. inf. a person or thing that puffs, in particular, a person who smokes. 2. short for pufferfish. |
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"puffer." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "puffer." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-puffer.html "puffer." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-puffer.html |
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puffer
puffer •chaffer, gaffer, Jaffa, kafir, Staffa
•alfalfa, alpha, Balfour, Wadi Halfa
•camphor, chamfer
•Luftwaffe
•laugher, staffer
•heifer, zephyr
•chafer, trefa, wafer
•cockchafer
•feoffor, reefer
•differ, sniffer
•pilfer • titfer • umbellifer • Jennifer
•conifer • apocrypha • thurifer
•crucifer, Lucifer
•Potiphar • aquifer
•cipher, encipher, fifer, Haifa, knifer, lifer
•coffer, cougher, Offa, offer, proffer, quaffer, scoffer
•golfer • phosphor • Forfar • Altdorfer
•chauffeur, gofer, goffer, gopher, loafer, Nuku'alofa, Ophir, shofar, sofa
•Fraunhofer
•hoofer, loofah, opera buffa, roofer, spoofer, tufa, woofer
•waterproofer
•bluffer, buffer, duffer, puffer, snuffer, suffer
•sulphur (US sulfur) • telegrapher
•calligrapher, serigrapher
•autobiographer, bibliographer, biographer, cartographer, choreographer, cinematographer, crystallographer, geographer, Hagiographa, hagiographer, iconographer, lexicographer, lithographer, oceanographer, palaeographer (US paleographer), photographer, pornographer, radiographer, stenographer, topographer, typographer
•philosopher, theosopher
•metaphor • Christopher • surfer
•Bonhoeffer • windsurfer
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"puffer." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "puffer." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-puffer.html "puffer." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-puffer.html |
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