FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



137. Toadflsh {Opsaniis tau Linnseus) 



357 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2315. 



Description. — The toadfish, like the sculpins, has a large flat head, round nose, 

 tremendous mouth, tapering body with plump belly, and fanlike pectoral fins; but 

 it difi'ers from all sculpins, and indeed from all other spiny-finned fishes of the Gulf 

 of Maine except the blennies (p. 359) , in the location of its ventral fins, which are 

 under the throat well in front of the pectorals ("jugular") instead of below or 

 behind the latter. Nor could anyone confuse it with any blenny, for it is not only 

 a totally different looking fish, but its dorsal fin is mostly soft rayed while that of 

 the blennies is spiny tliroughout. The presence of fleshy flaps of irregular outline 

 on the tip of the upper jaw and along the edge of the lower jaw, on the cheek, and 

 over each eye, gives its head a peculiar warty appearance. Distinctive, also, is the 



Fig. 176.— Adult. After Storer 



Fig. 177. — Larva, 8 millimeters 

 TOADFISH (Opsanus tau) 



fleshy nature of all the fins and the outline of the dorsal, the soft part of which 

 (26 to 28 rays) is five to six times as long as the spiny part (three spines) , from which 

 it is entirely separated by a deep notch, the two together extending the whole length 

 of the trunk from the nape nearly to the base of the caudal. The anal (24 rays) 

 is somewhat shorter than the second (soft) dorsal, originates under about the eighth 

 ray of the latter, and is similar to it in outline except that its margin is deeply 

 incised between every two rays, especially in its forward half. The caudal fin is 

 irregularly rounded; the ventrals are jagged in outline, with the first ray stouter 

 than the others, and covered by thick fleshy skin. There is a large open pit of 



