A second tropical pufferfish washes up dead in Europe within a week

Deadly: The Oceananic pufferfish

A Beach walker was stunned when he found a deadly pufferfish - washed up in Dorset.

At first glance the bizarre-looking fish appeared to be a large bloated mackerel.

But it soon became apparent it was a deadly pufferfish, normally only found in sub-tropical waters.

It appears to have died while in full defensive mode, with its stomach fully inflated.

The species is well-known for ballooning in size by filling their bodies with water or air to deter predators from attacking them.

The 12 ins long specimen was found by Richard Fabbri, having been swept on to Chesil Beach in Dorset.

But had any beach forager picked up the silver fish and taken it home for their supper they would have been in for a nasty and fatal shock.

All pufferfish are poisonous and carry a toxin in their internal organs that has no known antidote.

Rare sight: The pufferfish

There have been several incidents of people who have died after consuming a pufferfish believing it to be a harmless species.

Oceanic pufferfish - Lagocephalus lagocephalus in Latin - are very rare visitors to UK waters which is usually too cold for them.

Only a very small number have been recorded before, all off the south west coast.

Richard, who works at Weymouth Watersports, said: "It looked very odd. It had this big puffy belly that was under its throat but the rest of its body looked more like a mackerel."

Peter Tinsley, of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "It is an oceanic pufferfish. We know of one that was actually caught off Chesil Beach in the 1980s so it is very rare to see them here.

"The waters of the west coast of England are a bit warmer than the rest of the country, mainly due to the effects of the Gulf Stream.

"It is quite a slender fish and they only inflate their bellies when they feel threatened."

Most pufferfish are found in sub-tropical and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

They have four large teeth which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, their natural prey.