Cowfish: The Mutant Superheroes of the Ocean

Cowfish: The Mutant Superheroes of the Ocean

Source: naturespoisons

6/8/2022

Credit: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Stan Lee, creator of the mutant superheroes X-Men, wishes he could have come up with a mutant power as awesome as the cowfish. The only similar creature I know of is The Spleen, a member of Champion City’s crime fighting team Mystery Men, with the ability to fart at will and render evil-doers unconscious. But the ability to kill? That’s cowfish territory.

The cowfish, Lactoria cornuta, is a variety of boxfish and a cousin of the paralytic, poisonous pufferfish. They make their home in tropical and subtropical coral reefs in the ocean waters from East Africa to Japan, and feed on just about anything, from algae to small fish and crustaceans. What sets the cowfish apart from other reef denizens is their ability, when threatened or stressed, to discharge poison through their skin to incapacitate and kill predators and would-be muggers.