View allAll Photos Tagged Toadfish
98E03573 (30 September 1997) -- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Bill Kroeger, an aquatic technician for the Bionetics Corporation, examines an oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, in its holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between eight and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. This fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. (KSC Number 98PC-416)
TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii (Ray-finned or Bony Fishes)
Order: Batrachoidformes (Only family is below)
Family: Batrachoididae (Toadfishes)
Genus/species: Porichthys notatus
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Toadfishes have large flattened heads and tapered bodies and are the only family in the order. The humming toadfish (aka plainfin midshipman) is scaleless with four lateral lines and eyes high on a large head with a large mouth. The toadfish can be up to 30 cm (1 ft) long; the dorsal fin holds a mild poison. The toadfish possesses photophores (light organs), which are arranged on the underside of the head in a U-shape and are used primarily to attract prey.
DISTRIBUTION/HABITAT Found from Alaska to the Gulf of California. Its habitat ranges from intertidal areas to deeper water over sand and mud bottoms. The toadfish returns to shallow intertidal waters to reproduce and is seasonally common in San
Francisco, Suisun, and San Pablo Bays.
DIET IN THE WILD Omnivore: eats worms, crustaceans, mollusks and other fish. Hides in rock crevices among bottom vegetation, or digs dens in bottom sediments to ambush prey. Diet provides the ingredients for fluorescence.
PREDATORS They are prey for seals and sea lions.
REPRODUCTION After building and guarding a nest of rocks, the male entices females by humming his “love song,” a loud sound produced by vibrating a set of sonic muscles on its air bladder 6,000
times a minute for more than an hour at a time. The female chooses her mate, deposits her eggs in the nest, and the male fertilizes and guards them. Males try to attract several females to the same nest.
CONSERVATION Toadfish are not endangered though they are taken by local fishermen as a food fish and by trawlers as a source of fish meal and oil. They are prey for seals and sea lions.
REMARKS For many years Sausalito CA residents complained of an annoying noise that kept them awake at night during the summer months. The cause was uncertain, but theories were rampant: underwater surveillance equipment, secret weapons testing, extraterrestrial intrusions were all put forth. Then in the early 1990s the Academy’s Senior Curator and then Director of Steinhart Aquarium, John McCosker, investigated and ultimately reassured irritated residents that the sound had no destructive intent, only a reproductive one.
The remarkable endurance of the toadfish’s sonic muscles are the subject of on-going research and may lead to clues to fighting human muscle disease as well as general insights into muscle structure and function.
Water planet Senses Cluster Sound WP40
7-1-13
7-11-14
Icthy. cart 2013-2017
98E03574 (30 September 1997) -- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, are shown in their holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between 8 and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Since they are bottom dwellers that live in cracks and crevices, tubes are provided in their tank to give them a place to retreat and hide. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. The toadfish fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. (KSC Number 98PC-417)
The northern snakehead Channa argus is a native of China that has been released into the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Snakeheads are voracious predators that can grow to almost 3 feet long. Snakeheads can disrupt aquatic ecosystems through predation, displacement, and competition for food; transmit parasites or diseases; and impact local economies. View the previous picture for a local look-alike, the oyster toadfish.
Photo courtesy of Eric Hilton.
An oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, is shown in its holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between eight and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. This fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. The crew of STS-90, slated for launch April 16 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, includes Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Mission Specialists Richard Linnehan, Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.D., and Kathryn (Kay) Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey, M.D., and James Pawelczyk, Ph.D. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum
More about this fish on the wildfacts sheets on wildsingapore.
300dpi photo. Please review the details about using my photos.
Photo reference: 070531sisd1451
Odd is watching this toadfish being cleaned by a cleaner wrasse (the blue and black fish) at Shelly Beach, Sydney
This cute little toadfish is identified by the stripes under the eye; it was swimming around under the bridge at Swansea
Who Hammered My Head? -
Thaw my cold-blooded test and show off your sizzling knowledge. What is the above?
A) Fish (whale shark, halibut, manta ray)
B) Reptile (leatherback sea turtle, snake, worm lizard)
C) Amphibian (Giant salamander, Budgett‘s frog, toad)
An oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, is shown in its holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between eight and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Since they are bottom dwellers that live in cracks and crevices, a tube is provided in its tank to give it a place to retreat and hide. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. This fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. The crew of STS-90, slated for launch April 16 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, includes Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Mission Specialists Richard Linnehan, Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.D., and Kathryn (Kay) Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey, M.D., and James Pawelczyk, Ph.D. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum
This diagram helps visualize Dr. David Kimbro's theory that the mere presence of predators can have a similar effect on their prey as their eating them. On an oyster reef, predators such as toad fish and blue crabs eat a primary consumer of oysters, the mud crab. So the presence of the toad fish and the blue crab helps maintain a healthy oyster reef. But it may be that their mere presence frightens mud crabs and keeps them from consuming oysters.
Here is a face view of the splendid fellow. I love the way that the stripes continue into the eye. Pretty cool.
Students Mary Jane Wells ad Bruce Von Zellen dissect toadfish for parasites.
Repository: Duke University Archives. Durham, NC. library.duke.edu/uarchives
Trying to locate this photo at the Duke University Archives? You’ll find it in the University Archives Photograph Collection, box 67.
toadfish, any of about 80 species of bottom-living fishes constituting the family Batrachoididae and the order Batrachoidiformes. They are found chiefly in the New World and mostly in warm seas—occasionally in freshwater. Toadfishes are heavy-bodied fishes with broad, flattened heads and large mouths equipped with strong teeth. They grow to a maximum of about 40 cm (16 inches) and either are scaleless or have small scales. Most can produce audible grunting or croaking sounds. Toadfishes are carnivorous and sometimes bite when touched.
Guy was croaking like crazy
Pictures from my trip to Deep Blue Resort on Utila, part of the Bay of Islands Chain off the coast of Honduras.
Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, are shown in their holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between 8 and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Since they are bottom dwellers that live in cracks and crevices, tubes are provided in their tank to give them a place to retreat and hide. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. The toadfish fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. The crew of STS-90, slated for launch April 16 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, includes Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Mission Specialists Richard Linnehan, Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.D., and Kathryn (Kay) Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey, M.D., and James Pawelczyk, Ph.D. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum
Australian Numbfish are a type of electrc ray. They can deliver an electric shock to stun prey or to deter predators. The Numbfish is an active predator with a distensible mouth which allows it to feed on large bony fishes.
Amy V. Uhrin, Graduate Student, Department of Zoology
World's Ugliest Model: The sonic or sound-producing muscles of the oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau, are the fastest known twitching vertebrate muscles at two hundred times per second and are used by males to produce a foghorn-like sound to attract females. This capacity for muscle contraction makes the oyster toadfish a model organism for studying muscle pathology. Medical researchers are also attempting to understand mechanisms behind the fish's high tolerance for ammonia in water in hope of halting the toxic effects of high ammonia concentrations in humans. Lastly, the balance system of the oyster toadfish is similar to that of humans making it a valuable neurological model for disorders such as motion sickness. In fact, the oyster toadfish gained notoriety in 1998 when it soared into space on the space shuttle as part of a project examining the effects of microgravity on balance.
This common toadfish had been hiding, buried in the sand except for it's eyes, just prior to this shot.
Toadfish - Family Chaunacidae, Chaunax umbrinus.
Image ID: expn7914, Voyage To Inner Space - Exploring the Seas With NOAA Collection
Photo Date: 2016 0619 031559Z
Credit: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas, Leg 3
Australian Numbfish are a type of electrc ray. They can deliver an electric shock to stun prey or to deter predators. The Numbfish is an active predator with a distensible mouth which allows it to feed on large bony fishes.
Shoal of Smooth Toadfish (Tetractenos glaber) in the mouth of the Supply River.
On the way back from checking a population of Epacris exserta we observed large numbers of these fish in mouth of the Supply River.
Taken during an NHVP (Newcastle & Hunter Valley Photographers) group meet at the Galgabba Point Landcare site, South Swansea, Lake Macquarie.
Galgabba Point at Swansea is home to many threatened animal and plant species, but not long ago it was being used as an unofficial rubbish dump. Its continued degradation was not something Sharon McCarthy was willing to watch.
So she gave up her full-time job, set up the Galgabba Point Landcare group and began working towards saving this significant eight-hectare bush area.
"The area contains an endangered ecological community, and threatened species, but it was being strangled by weeds, abused and regularly burnt, and the wetland had been backfilled with rubbish," Sharon said.
[Australian Government Natural Resource Managment (NRM) website]
The work Sharon and her Landcare team (many of them volunteers) have done to help restore this site is a great example of how, with patience determination and dedication, damaged land can be rehabilitated back to a thriving natural ecosystem.
Several of these fish were found in a brackish mangrove canal flowing through the Cairns Botanical Garden.
Special thanks to the staff at the Queensland Museum for their identification assistance.
Bill Kroeger, an aquatic technician for the Bionetics Corporation, examines an oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau), like those that are part of the Neurolab payload on Space Shuttle Mission STS-90, in its holding tank in the Space Station Processing Facility. Each fish is between eight and 14 inches long. Toadfish live in an estuarine environment and are native to areas along the Northeast coast of the United States. Investigations during the Neurolab mission will focus on the effects of microgravity on the nervous system. This fish is an excellent model for looking at vestibular function because the architecture of its inner and middle ear are similar to those of mammals with respect to the vestibular apparatus. The crew of STS-90, slated for launch April 16 at 2:19 p.m. EDT, includes Commander Richard Searfoss, Pilot Scott Altman, Mission Specialists Richard Linnehan, Dafydd (Dave) Williams, M.D., and Kathryn (Kay) Hire, and Payload Specialists Jay Buckey, M.D., and James Pawelczyk, Ph.D. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum