Rare pufferfish found cold-stunned in San Diego waters on the way to recovery

Rare pufferfish found cold-stunned in San Diego waters on the way to recovery

Source: fox5sandiego

12/23/2021

A rare pufferfish is under the care of crews at SeaWorld San Diego after it was found in an unlikely spot earlier this month in the cold waters near Point Loma.

The cold-stunned Spot-fin Porcupinefish should have been well south of the area by now as it typically prefers warmer waters, according to Mike Hopkins, a senior animal care specialist on SeaWorld’s aquarium team. It’s not clear why the fish was so far north, but had been floating subsurface in the same area for three days before it was “carefully collected” and transported to SeaWorld.

“There are a lot of theories out there of where this fish came from,” Hopkins said Thursday, “and we have no way of knowing because I can’t ask him.”

In the weeks since the fish was collected, Hopkins said it’s been in a special pool they call a quarantine area. There, crews have been slowly raising his temperature up before reaching its preferred range of 77-78 degrees three days ago.

And on Wednesday, a breakthrough in his recovery.