View allAll Photos Tagged Toadfish
Taken by John Larsen in Cozumel, Mexico using the SeaLife DC1400.
SeaLife has been granted the rights to this image.
The Large-eye toadfish Batrachoides gilberti Meek & Hildebrand, 1928. Specimen from the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH 84549). © D. Biston Vaz.
Again in Santa Rosa, a few seconds after seeing the splendid toadfish out of its hole, we came across this spotted moray eel showing off a toothful grin. Hans had a knack for finding critters everywhere. Though these eels are not that rare, I liked that picture and that smiling face.
More about this fish on the wildfacts sheets on wildsingapore.
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The Rossignol's toadfish Perulibatrachus rossignoli. From the collections of the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB 67750). © D. Biston Vaz.
DM lured this handsome fella out of his hole with a fake fish - I know, not the nicest thing in the world to do, but it was wonderful seeing more than just his nose for once.
The Arabian toadfish Colletteichthys occidentalis Greenfield, 2012. From the collections of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (USNM 147914). © D. Biston Vaz.
The toadfish Barchatus cirrhosus (Klunzinger, 1871) occurs in the Red Sea and nearby waters.
© D. Biston Vaz.
Tarpon Fly,
Another successful Matuka style pattern which works best when fish in bright sunny conditions.
This pattern was my most successful fly during my 2012 trip to the Floridas Keys
Toadfishes are bottom-dwellers, ranging from near shore areas to deep waters. They tend to be omnivorous, eating sea worms, crustaceans, mollusks and other fish. They often hide in rock crevices, among the bottom vegetation, or even dig dens in the bottom sediments, from which they ambush their prey. Toadfish can survive out of water for as much as 24 hours, and some can move across exposed mudflats at low tide using their fins.
Males make nests, and then attract females by "singing", that is, by releasing air by contracting muscles on their swim bladder. The sound has been called a 'hum' or 'whistle', and can be loud enough to be clearly audible from the surface. The eggs are sticky on one side, so that the female can attach them to the side of the nest. Each male will attract numerous females to his nest, so that the eggs within will have multiple different mothers.
The male then guards the nest against predators. During this period, the male must survive on a limited supply of food, as they are not able to leave the immediate vicinity to hunt. The eggs rapidly develop into embryos, but these remain attached to the side of the nest until the age of about three to four weeks. After this time, they continue to cluster around and hide behind the male, until they are large enough to fend for themselves. This degree of parental care is very unusual among fishes.[Wikipedia, Aug 2011]