Pufferfish
passiveOurs, not the game's own: how a pufferfish behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: spawn weight 5 on most Java biome lists (it runs from 5 to 15) against 25 on Bedrock; groups of 1 to 3 on Java against 3 to 5 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and here is how we check.
Added InOverview
The Pufferfish is a passive mob in Minecraft, which means it will not hunt a player down, though its attack damage is not zero, because it uses that on other mobs or in self-defence.
Look for the Pufferfish across the Overworld; it is tied to Warm Ocean and Lukewarm Ocean.
Its defining trait is simple: inflates when players or mobs approach, dealing poison damage.
It carries 3 health points, 1.5 hearts, and yields 1 to 3 experience when it dies.
The Pufferfish has been part of the game since version 1.13.
A useful detail many players miss: Pufferfish are used in Potions of Water Breathing.
The reason to seek out the Pufferfish is what it leaves behind: Pufferfish and Bone Meal, which is worth more than the fight it puts up.
Damage by Difficulty
Spawning
Natural spawns for the Pufferfish occur in Warm Ocean and Lukewarm Ocean.
Your best bet is to head straight for Warm Ocean, since that is where it turns up most reliably out of the handful of biomes it favours.
Spawns in warm and lukewarm ocean water.
Left alone far from any player, wild pufferfishes eventually despawn, so use a name tag if you want a specific one to stick around.
With no attack to worry about, the Pufferfish is something you gather rather than fight, and since it does not breed, every one you want has to come from a fresh spawn.
Where the Pufferfish spawns
Warm Ocean is where it stands strongest: weight 15 on the water ambient list and 37.5% of it, arriving 1 to 3 at a time. There it shares the list with Tropical Fish at 25, 40 weight together, of which 15 is pufferfish. It also turns up in Deep Lukewarm Ocean at 13.2% and Lukewarm Ocean at 11.1%.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
 Warm Ocean | 15 | 37.5% | 1 to 3 |
 Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 13.2% | 1 to 3 |
 Lukewarm Ocean | 5 | 11.1% | 1 to 3 |
Drops
Here is what you can expect to collect from a Pufferfish:
Every kill yields 1 Pufferfish.
On top of that, you may come away with 1 Bone Meal (occasionally, 5% chance).
In terms of experience, each kill is worth 1 to 3 XP orbs.
These are well worth keeping. Pufferfish are used in Potions of Water Breathing.
Across many kills the guaranteed items pile up steadily while the chance-based extras trickle in, so consistent farming is the way to build a meaningful stockpile.
As a harmless mob, the Pufferfish is best gathered opportunistically while you explore, and there is no danger in collecting from it, so it rarely justifies a dedicated trip.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pufferfish | 1 | always | |
| Bone Meal | 1 | 5% |
The same Bone Meal comes off the cod drops 1, the salmon the same and the tropical fish the same.
Pufferfish attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Size | 0.7 x 0.7 blocks |
 Eye height | 0.455 blocks |
 Tracking range | 4 chunks |
 Health | 3 points |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Experience | 1 to 3 |
Pufferfish: 0.94% of its category, rank 34 of 52
On 3 of the 66 biome lists (3 spawn entries in total), and 0.94% of every spawn the game puts in its water ambient group is a pufferfish.
64 pufferfish kills fill a stack of 64 Pufferfish, because the ranges Minecraft Java 26.2 rolls for it come out at 1 per kill before Looting. Next down is Bone Meal at 0.05 a kill, which is 1280 pufferfish kills to 64.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
 Pufferfish | 1 |
 Bone Meal | 0.05 |
How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Pufferfish |
|---|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 1 | 64 |
 stone sword | 5 | 1 | 64 |
 iron sword | 6 | 1 | 64 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 1 | 64 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 1 | 64 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 1 | 64 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 1 | 64 |
Turned around, 7 unblocked pufferfish hits empty a player's 20 health, 15% of the bar at a time, which is what the pufferfish's 3 damage on Normal buys it. On Easy the same pufferfish hit is 10%, on Hard 20%, so 10 hits against 5.
Behavior & Combat
Behaviourally, inflates when players or mobs approach, dealing poison damage. Three inflation stages: deflated, half-puffed, fully puffed.
Its 3 health is 75th of 80, just under the 4 of the chicken.
On the stat sheet it carries 2 on Easy, 3 on Normal and 4 on Hard alongside 3 health (1.5 hearts), though it is not a mob that comes looking for a fight.
The Pufferfish cannot be bred, so the only way to get more is to find them spawning naturally in their home biomes.
Like other fish, you can scoop it up with a bucket of water to create a "bucket of pufferfish", letting you carry it home and release it into a tank or pond without it taking damage.
It is a water-dwelling creature and will suffocate if it ends up on dry land, so keeping it in water is essential if you want to transport or keep one.
All told, the Pufferfish is a low-risk part of the world that rewards patience more than aggression.
Pufferfish commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:pufferfish | Puts a pufferfish on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:pufferfish_spawn_egg | Hands you the pufferfish spawn egg, so you can place pufferfishes where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:pufferfish] | Removes every pufferfish that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:pufferfish, spawn egg minecraft:pufferfish_spawn_egg.
Pufferfish farm
Build a pufferfish farm around the one rule the game applies to every pufferfish. Spawns in warm and lukewarm ocean water.
Of the 3 biome spawn lists the pufferfish stands on, Warm Ocean gives the pufferfish its largest share at 37.5%, so a pufferfish platform there fills faster than the same build anywhere else.
The game puts 1 to 3 pufferfishes down per roll, so a wide pufferfish floor beats a tall one.
Each kill is worth 1 to 3 experience and up to 1 pufferfish, so the size of the pufferfish farm follows the number you need of that one item.
Pufferfish version history
The pufferfish was added in Minecraft 1.13, which came out on 18 July 2018, so the pufferfish has been in the game for 8 years.
7 other mobs here came with it: the turtle, the cod, the salmon, the tropical fish, the dolphin, the phantom and the drowned. That puts the pufferfish behind 47 of the 88 mobs here and ahead of 33.
Every pufferfish figure on this page is read from Minecraft Java 26.2 as it stands today, not from the version above.
What Pufferfish sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every pufferfish sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 6 lines a pufferfish can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.puffer_fish.hurt master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.puffer_fish.hurt |  Pufferfish hurts |
| entity.puffer_fish.death | Pufferfish dies |
| entity.puffer_fish.blow_out | Pufferfish deflates |
| entity.puffer_fish.blow_up | Pufferfish inflates |
| entity.puffer_fish.flop | Pufferfish flops |
| entity.puffer_fish.sting | Pufferfish stings |
