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coral rubble

Toadfish Family Batrachoididae
Baby Toadfish

The Toadfish is quite common but often overlooked because of its excellent camouflage. Its mottled colours allows it to blend in with its rocky surroundings. Often, it is also covered in sand and sediment.

Big mouth: A Toadfish is basically an enormous head with a huge mouth on a small body! It has a broad, flat head with eyes on top, facing up. Its mouth is wide and usually camouflaged with fleshy flaps.

Croaking fish: The Toadfish got its common name because it croaks like a toad when distressed. It makes these sounds by vibrating its swim bladder.

Toadfish food: A sluggish fish that swims poorly, the Toadfish hides under rocks near the shore to ambush small fish, crabs and prawns. Suitable prey that wanders nearby is sucked into the Toadfish's wide jaws which can expand into a cavernous gape.

Don't touch the Toad: Beware of the sharp spines on the sides of its head that can cause painful pricks. Some may even bite if handled.

Fish in space! The balancing organs of some members of the Toadfish family are very similar to ours so they are much studied for medical applications. In fact, some members of this family were sent up in the space shuttle to study the effects of space travel on balance!

Human uses: In some places, members of this family are considered edible delicacies.

Making like Mud
An adult Toadfish,
well camouflaged
on the muddy bottom

Fearsome Face
A Toadfish has a face
that only a mother
could love!

quick facts
Adults about 30cm, juveniles about 10cm. Common under rocks near the shore of the coral rubble area

Links
Family Batrachoididae from FishBase: Technical fact sheet on the family.
Family Batrachoididae from Key to the Fishes of Puget Sound by Shannon DeVaney on the University of Washing Fish Collection website: a brief introduction to the family.
Are Toadfish and Frogfish the Same Creature? from Ask the Aquarium on the North Carolina Aquariums website: fact sheet on toadfishes.
Toadfish in Space from press release on the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole website: about the toadfish sent out to space.
Sounds of Cape Cod Fishes on Rodney Rountree's Homepage on Fish Ecology has a sound clip of a toadfish croaking!

Other references

Lim, Kelvin K. P. & Jeffrey K. Y. Low, 1998. A Guide to the Common Marine Fishes of Singapore. Singapore Science Centre. 163 pp. online version
Tan, Leo W. H. & Ng, Peter K. L., 1988. A Guide to Seashore Life. The Singapore Science Centre, Singapore. 160 pp. online version

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com

a companion website to the chek jawa guidebook
website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com