A spiky, spherical fish that can puff itself up with water as a defense mechanism; another name for a pufferfish or similar fish.
From Middle English bur 'prickly seed pod' plus fish, literally describing the spiky appearance of this defensive fish. The term emerged when European fishermen encountered these fish.
Burfish have a built-in self-defense that's so extreme they can poison their own predators—they're basically swimming mines filled with tetrodotoxin, one of nature's deadliest poisons.
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