Among the aquatic mobs, pufferfish are unique because of their ability to expand and deal damage. They aren’t much of a threat but can come as a hazard to unaware players swimming around the ocean. However, they have a few extra quirks, so let’s overview Minecraft pufferfish.
Pufferfish
Aquatic mobs are often quite unique; the same goes for pufferfish. This mob can swim about and act out against any dangerous mobs. They are mostly passive but defend themselves from mobs and players by inflating. Dealing damage and poisoning somebody who gets damaged by the mob on contact. Pufferfish in Minecraft are very hard to miss with their odd shape and bright color, even more so if they inflate.
For pufferfish to spawn, we need a warm, lukewarm, or deep lukewarm ocean biome. All the other spawning checks will be related to the regular fish spawning requirement inherent to the Java Edition of the Minecraft. That means that fish will spawn while an appropriate location within a cube at certain Minecraft layers is found. In addition, the fish will spawn 24 to 64 blocks away from the player, which makes them even more predictable to spot.
Pufferfish spawns are a bit different in Bedrock Edition. The edition makes fish spawn underwater around 12 to 32 blocks away from the player while the pufferfish themselves spawn in groups of 3 to 5. Pufferfish also exclusively spawn in warm ocean biomes in Bedrock Edition. Those spawning details make them convoluted to spawn but still decently present.
Pufferfish Behavior
These mobs are more than keen on inflating to protect themselves as soon as something approaches them. This goes for the player, too, potentially making pufferfish dangerous. However, collecting these fish by using a bucket on them is possible, generating a bucket of pufferfish. They will not despawn if within the bucket, no matter where you take them.
Completely expectedly, aquatic mobs can drown. That goes for pufferfish too. If you throw a pufferfish onto the ground, it will die a bit later. However, fish need water to live, so they will try to return to the water if possible.
Pufferfish are purely defensive and will otherwise simply float around. The mobs that are hurt by a pufferfish may retaliate if possible too.
Pufferfish Attack
A pufferfish inflating has two tiers of damage. One is semi-puffed, and another is fully puffed pufferfish. The first deals 2 damage on normal difficulty with Poison status being inflicted for 3 seconds for a total of extra 2 damage. The second one deals 3 damage and 4 poison damage with Poison that lasts 6 seconds.
Bedrock Edition has only fully puffed pufferfish that deals 2 damage on normal difficulty and 7 poison damage after 10 seconds of Poison condition.
Pufferfish Drops
If you kill a pufferfish, it will drop one stack of pufferfish. This poisonous food item can be used to make a water breathing potion by combining it with an awkward potion. It’s also possible to craft a mundane potion with this fish too by combining it with a water bottle.
Bone meal has a 5% chance to drop in Java Edition. However, players can gather only a single stack from a pufferfish. Alternatively, if player is playing a Bedrock Edition they may get bones. The pufferfish can drop 1 to 2 bones, with 25% of it dropping. Aside from these, regular experience orb drop is present too.