EVERETT — When Puffer the aptly-named pufferfish first came to the Everett Public Library, the highest grossing movie of the year was “Shrek 2,” the top two songs on the Billboard charts were performed by Usher and George W. Bush was campaigning against John Kerry.
Twenty years later, Puffer — with his bright yellow patches and distinctive black spots — is still there, swimming to his heart’s content, most of the time. Sometimes he overeats and gets a little tired, opting to lie on the bottom of the downtown library’s aquarium in the children’s area, as he did Tuesday.
But library staff hope he’ll be back to his energetic ways Saturday, because the library is hosting a free event from 10:30 a.m. to noon to celebrate Puffer. Participants will be able to listen to stories about puffers, make and color paper hats, create origami puffers, get free goodies and sing puffer-related songs.
“Some friends of mine wrote the song, it’s called ‘I’m a Little Puffer Fish,’” said Aarene Storms, a librarian organizing the event. “It only has two chords, so I taught myself how to play the ukulele so I can play it.”
A Pufferfish Day display at the Everett Library on Tuesday in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Needless to say, “We don’t do things by halves around here,” said Andrea Wallis, who has worked at the library for 28 years.
Puffer is a dog-faced pufferfish, whose life expectancy is about 10 years in the wild, Wallis said. She’s seen children grow to young adults who come into the library and are surprised Puffer has remained for so long.
“He loves people,” Wallis said. “As long as we keep having people come in, he really is quite happy. I think he starts to recongize folks.”
In doing research for the event, Storms found a folk tale about puffers originating from the remote island of Nguna, 1,500 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, where 1,300 people live on less than 10 square miles in the country of Vanuatu. Children can hear the tale on Saturday, telling of a war between fish and how the puffer agreed to keep all the weapons safe from the others. It explains how the fish can inflate in his distinctive manner, Storms said.
They’ll also hear scientific facts about the fish — he holds tetrodotoxin in his skin, an extremely potent neurotoxin that makes the fish inedible, and his teeth never stop growing. Library staff feed him a clam on Fridays to allow Puffer to break the teeth down.
More than anything, librarians are excited to celebrate Puffer.
“I hope that people can express our joy in having this fish among us,” Storms said. “He’s a delightful colleague. He’s the one who never has a bad day.”
Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.
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