Pufferfishes and Recent Pufferfish Fisheries in Cheju Island, Korea

Abstract

A total of 15 species of pufferfishes belonging to the five genera were recognized in the collections of the Cheju National University Museum (CNU), Ocean Research Institute (CNU), the National Cheju Fisheries Laboratory, and the Cheju Folklore and Natural History Museum, and at the Cheju Fish Market, fish culture ponds, and pufferfish restaurants in April 1992. Lagocephalus gloveri, L. wheeleri, Takifugu reticularis, Diodon liturosus, and Arothron firmamentum were the additional species to the pufferfish fauna of the island. The pufferfish catch in Cheju Is. (1, 166t) stood first in total pufferfish catch in Korea (5, 230t) in 1991. They consisted mainly of T. xanthopterus (ca. 94%), followed by T. rubripes and T. chinensis (ca. 4%) and Lagocephalus spp. (ca. 2%). Almost all of T. xanthopterus were caught with long line in the East China and Yellow Seas in early summer and autumn, while T. rubripes and T. chinensis were caught with long line in the waters around Cheju Is. from autumn to winter.