View allAll Photos Tagged Toadfish
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
i havent watched home and away for years now but i used to love alf. he was the only reason i switched on tv for a while. i hope hes alright.
Blotched Toadfish, Brown Frogfish, Dubious Frogfish
Froschfisch
at Watson's Bay Pool in 1,50m depth
ambush predator with a large expandable stomach
White 1790
It also called "striped dumpling squid" as it's lovely appearance. View Larger On Black
I found this squid at the same dive site (finding Toadfish) -- Samarai wharf. Everyone ( Bob Halstead,Craig and Tony Wu) on boat was very excited that i found this squid.
It's pity that the squid played hiding and running with me in high speed and finally hide himself under huge wood. I only took 5-6 images for him.
I will post other images so that everyone can see more details.
more information.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepioloidea_lineolata
www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/NOV03/Striped_Pyjama_S...
Splendid Toadfish seen while night diving at Paradise on Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico in February 2022. Toadfish are very rarely seen out swimming in the open. They prefer to hide in nooks and crannies in the reef and ambush their prey.
Our Wildwood, NJ Vacation.
This was a small Aquarium on the Boardwalk
Puffer fish
Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, and toadies.[1] They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large conspicuous spines (unlike the small, almost sandpaper-like spines of Tetraodontidae). The scientific name, Tetraodontidae, refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, and red worms, their natural prey.
Puffer fish are the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, the first being a Golden Poison Frog. The skin and certain internal organs of many tetraodontidae are highly toxic to humans, but nevertheless the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in both Japan (as fugu) and Korea (as bok-uh). If one is caught while fishing, it is recommended that thick gloves be worn to avoid poisoning and getting bitten when removing the hook.
explored #247
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.
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This guy was pretty big. Nice sized Leopard Toadfish. I'm starting to see more of these guys around the jetties here. I probably saw 4 or 5 on our dives here.
Taken at St. Andrews State Park in Panama City Beach, FL.
Lusitanian toadfish (Halobatrachus didactylus) in rock covered by red algae and hydrozoans. Chipiona, Cádiz, Spain. Expedition Oceana Ranger 2010: Discovering seamounts. July 2010.
Pez sapo (Halobatrachus didactylus) en roca cubierta de algas rojas e hidrozoos. Chipiona, Cádiz, España. Expedición Oceana Ranger 2010: Descubriendo las montañas submarinas. Julio 2010.
Copyright: All images and text on this Flickr® account belong to Oceana. Any questions or requests regarding image use should be sent to asaez@oceana.org and/or digicomms@oceana.org
Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the Tetraodontiformes order. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called pufferfish, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, toadies, honey toads, and sea squab. They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large conspicuous spines (unlike the small, almost sandpaper-like spines of Tetraodontidae). The scientific name refers to the four large teeth, fused into an upper and lower plate, which are used for crushing the shells of crustaceans and mollusks, and red worms, their natural prey.
Puffer fish are the second–most poisonous vertebrate in the world, after the Golden Poison Frog. The puffer's skin and certain internal organs are highly toxic to humans, but nevertheless the meat of some species is considered a delicacy in both Japan (as fugu) and Korea (as bok) when prepared by chefs who know what is safe to eat. Thick gloves should be worn to avoid poisoning and bites when removing the hook from a caught animal. Chefs prepare the puffer fish by skinning them while they are still alive, a practice that prevents the toxins from seeping into the edible portions of the fish.
The toadfish Allenbatrachus reticulatus occurs in Austro-Indonesian waters. Specimen from the U.S. Museum of Natural Histroy (USNM 333283). © D. Biston Vaz.
Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfish, are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As the name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp spines coated with venomous mucus. The family is a large one, with hundreds of members.They are widespread in tropical and temperate seas, but mostly found in the Indo-Pacific. They should not be confused with the cabezones, of the genus Scorpaenichthys, which belong to a separate, though related family, Cottidae.
Some types, such as the lionfish, are attractive as well as dangerous, and highly desired for aquaria. In addition to the name scorpionfish, informal names for family members include "firefish", "turkeyfish", "dragonfish", and "stingfish", usually with adjectives added.
General characteristics of family members include a compressed body, ridges and/or spines on the head, one or two spines on the operculum, and three to five spines on the preopercle. The dorsal fin will have 11 to 17 spines, often long and separated from each other, and the pectoral fins will be well-developed, with 11 to 25 rays. The spines of the dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins all have venom glands at their bases.
Most species are bottom-dwellers that feed on crustaceans and smaller fish. Most species inhabit shallow waters, but a few live as deep as 2,200 metres (7,200 ft).Most Scorpionfish, such as the stonefish, wait in disguise for prey to pass them by before swallowing, while lionfish often ambush their prey. When not ambushing, lionfish may herd the fish, shrimp, or crab in to a corner before swallowing. Scorpionfish feed by opening their mouth, then their gills a fraction of a second apart, creating suction. Stripers, grouper, bass, snook, frogfish, toadfish, sculpin, etc., also feed this way, but the scorpionfish, toadfish and sculpins are the only members of this group that have jaw teeth.
1. a fine specimen of a feline, 2. What're you lookin' at, 3. a certain kind of light, 4. The latest creation, 5. Wolverine's First Bath, 6. Donuts For Everybody, 7. Autour de la Place Sainthe Marthe, 8. Cygnet, 9. rico and the ball, 10. Strawberry Anemone, 11. Uglyworld #683 - Off Powerwalking Around The City (212-365), 12. Peg Dolls, 13. Window to Wonderland, 14. lovely flower pot, 15. trio of felted scarves, 16. IMG_2159, 17. IMG_0267, 18. A Sunday Stroll, 19. Peekaboo, 20. Wanna play outside?, 21. Sunset in Cuba, 22. Strange-looking Tulip, 23. Splendid Toadfish Face, 24. Dragonfly on the Red Lily, 25. You are never gonna get me
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A small pufferfish, basically swimming under my dive buddy. The viz sucked during this night dive, but lots of life was out. Normally, of course backscatter should be avoided, but here it makes a serene background for the image.
One more week to the Evolution Photoganza in the Philippines! Always fun: more of my photography & tales of the underwater world in "Sex, Drugs and Scuba Diving".
Quote from AUSECO.
Soldier crabs (FAMILY MICTYRIDAE) are a unique group of crabs that live on tidal mudflats in sandy estuaries and mangroves. In Australia they are found from Western Australia around the top end of Australia to Wilson’s Promontory in Victoria. They are also found on islands of the western Pacific Ocean including New Caledonia and also South-East Asia.
They have several adaptations that make them different from most other crabs. Instead of flattened bodies their bodies are spherical and they walk forward instead of sideways. They emerge from their holes in the sand at low tide and move in large groups of dozens or even thousands of individuals. They move together in the same direction creating the illusion of moving sand. As they move they place sand into their mouths with their pincers eating any organic matter contained amongst the grains leaving behind small, round pellets of sand now devoid of organic material.
Being active at low tide gives them certain advantages over crabs that are active in the aquatic environment created by the high tide. The aquatic crabs suffer from the predations of fish like toadfish as well as shorebirds like herons, oystercatchers and whimbrels. The main predators of soldier crabs are birds. As the high tide returns the crab digs down into the sand with a corkscrew motion.
May/June just finished an exploration trip to the Sula Islands with Diego of SDAA and Hendrik for the local Government. The trip was to assess the diving potential and to make plans for a much longer and more detailed trip later in the year. The area was rich with diverse habitats from pristine reefs to mangroves, muck dives, jetty dives, island lakes and sheer wall drop offs. Looking forward to heading back as there is huge potential.
oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau, 123mm SL. Chesapeake Bay, Greenbury Point, Anne Arundel County, MD - 11/03/11. Photo by Robert Aguilar, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.
Oyster Toadfish hiding on the wreck of the SS Suloide, Outer Banks, this is in one of the ships boilers.
Off of Morehead City, NC, USA. August 13th 2011.
My Rubble
Just like people, there are fish which collect things to show off.
I first spotted this Ringed Toadfish (Omegophora armilla) guarding a large white fishing bucket resting on the sand near Rapid Bay jetty. Wondering what was so interesting about the contents of the bucket I swam over to take closer look.
Initially the toadfish swam away but not very far and then tried to swim behind me and back to his bucket again. I backed off a little, settled down on the sand and waited.
He soon came back, inspected the contents of his bucket and then swam over to a small broken chunk of coral nearby. After examining it for a moment he proceeded to pick it up in his mouth and swim back to the bucket again where he dropped it in on top of the rubble already there. It was nearly three quarters full and I can only guess that he must have been responsible for filling up that bucket right from the beginning.
A fellow diver suggested it was some form of mating behavior as he had seen other toadfish trying to fill more natural objects such as sponges with rubble such as shells and grit and broken coral.
With his big white bucket filled with rubble this guy is obviously out to prove that size really does matter.
Photo: Robert Rath, 'My Rubble' 1/100s f/11 ISO160 50mm
... more at wetshutter.com
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