How to Fish Pufferfish Boss: Carrot and Fight

Get the Carrot by giving the Island 3 Tourist a catch marked Endangered Species, then use that Carrot as bait for the How to Fish Pufferfish boss. Move around a large tree or rock, shoot while the boss reroutes, widen your circle when purple poison appears, and return the small Pufferfish Tail after the kill. ^[01]

How to summon the How to Fish Pufferfish

The Tourist owns the boss trigger. Accept the request, catch ordinary Desert creatures with the Standard Lure, and inspect them until one displays the exact Endangered Species status. Keep that creature intact and hand it over for a Carrot. The Endangered Creature guide separates valid task status from Drip rarity and species guesses. ^[01]

Do not use the Carrot immediately. A failed attempt may send you back through the exchange, so prepare while the bait is still safe in your inventory. ^[01]

Pufferfish loadout checklist

A faster weapon is not automatically a better weapon. If the SMG climbs above the target, improve control and fire shorter bursts. If rounds land but the health bar barely moves, then spend on damage. Explosives can work, but self-damage makes them a poor default for a player still learning the route. ^[01]

Use terrain instead of fighting in the open

Choose the loop before casting. Stand so one solid obstacle separates you from the water and leaves room to move around both sides. When Pufferfish commits to one direction, rotate the other way. Fire while it slows or reroutes, then move before the next approach. ^[01]

The pattern is simple: make it turn, shoot during the turn, leave early. Standing still to empty a magazine gives the boss a clean line. Hiding motionless behind one tree is unreliable too; as its size changes, the path through the terrain changes with it. ^[01]

Survive the purple poison phase

Later in the fight, the How to Fish Pufferfish grows and leaves a purple damaging trail. Widen the loop as soon as the hazard appears. Do not retrace a tight circle through old poison, and do not cut between the boss and the obstacle just because its health is low. ^[01]

Keep the camera high enough to read the ground ahead. In co-op, one player should lead the movement while the others fire from separated angles; everyone circling in one lane can block a retreat or drag the boss across a teammate. Heal only after solid terrain has broken the direct approach. ^[01]

Patch 1.0.4 officially nerfed Pufferfish, and Patch 1.0.9 later added Easy and Hard settings. Advice or damage expectations from an older launch build may therefore feel different in the current game. Easy gives creatures 25% less health and 50% less damage; Hard gives them 25% more health and 25% more damage. ^[03]

Pick up the Pufferfish Tail

The objective is not complete when the health bar reaches zero. Search the scattered remains for the small, distinctive tail or fin trophy. It can sit among larger meat pieces or shift because of the game's physics. Pick it up before selling, cooking, or leaving the area. ^[01]

Return the trophy to the Tourist. The successful hand-in provides the navigation item or coordinates for the next stage. If the marker does not change, confirm that you delivered the Pufferfish Tail rather than ordinary meat. The 3rd island walkthrough shows the full task chain around this encounter. ^[01]

Why a Pufferfish attempt fails

• No boss appears: the Carrot is not equipped as bait, or the Tourist exchange was never completed.
• The first charge kills you: move toward the prepared obstacle as soon as the cast triggers the encounter.
• The SMG feels weak: check whether recoil is sending most rounds wide before buying more damage.
• Poison closes the route: enlarge the circle and choose a second obstacle instead of crossing the purple trail.
• The next island stays locked: find and return the unique tail trophy. ^[01]

The Carrot route, terrain loop, poison behavior, and trophy hand-in are Reported from independent guides and playthrough evidence. Steam confirms the boss-and-island progression loop, while the official announcement feed confirms the Pufferfish nerf and current difficulty modifiers. ^{[01] [02] [03]}