Whoop, Goes the Pufferfish

It’s a beautiful and sunny morning at a rocky shore in Mumbai. At low tide, all seems peaceful at a tide pool.

A pink Porcelain Crab is looking for food. An orange Starfish is moving s-l-o-w-l-y with its tube feet.

But wait. Is it really peaceful? Oh no! A baby Pufferfish is stuck in the tide pool.

The Pufferfish swims to the left and bumps into a rock. It swims to the right and bumps into a rock. It swims here and there and everywhere, but there seems no way out.

“HELP! I am stuck!” cries the Pufferfish.

WHOOP! It puffs up to protect itself from danger. It swims around in circles.

“Don’t panic, little fish,” says the Porcelain Crab. “The tide will come back in,” says the Starfish. But the Pufferfish is too frightened to listen. Round and round it goes.

“WHO IS MAKING ALL THIS NOISE?”

A majestic Octopus swims into the pool from under a rock. The Pufferfish stares in awe.

“You feel trapped because the tide is low,” says the Octopus. “At high tide, the water will cover all these rocks. And you will be able to swim back home to the sea.”

The Pufferfish is relieved. It waits. In time, water flows under the Porcelain Crab’s rock. It flows over the Starfish. It flows into the tide pools. The water rises. The Pufferfish rises with it.

Finally, the baby Pufferfish can swim over the rocks. It is overjoyed. “Thank you, everyone!” it calls out and swims away into the sea. “Goodbye, little one. Swim safe.”

What is a tide pool? Tide pools are shallow pools of seawater on rocky shores. You find these at low tide when the rest of the water has flowed back into the sea. Tide pools are in the intertidal zone, the part of the beach only seen at low tide.

Low tide is when the water flows back far into the sea.

High tide is when the water covers most of the shore. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the Earth.

Low Tide, High Tide