FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



519 



Figure 274. — Toadfish (Opsanus lau), Woods Hole. Drawing by Louella E. Cable. 



fin (21 or 22 rays) is somewhat shorter than the 

 second (soft) dorsal, orginates under about the 

 eighth ray of the latter, and is similar to it in 

 outline except that its rays are more or less free 

 at their outer ends, especially in its forward half. 

 The caudal fin is rounded; the ventrals covered 

 by thick fleshy skin, are jagged in outline, with 

 the first ray stouter than the others. There is a 

 large open pit of unknown function in the axil of 

 each pectoral fin. 



We need only remark, further, that the skin is 

 covered with a thick layer of slimy mucus. The 

 toadfish has no scales; its teeth are large and blunt; 

 and it has two short spines at the upper angle of 

 each gill cover, hidden however, in the thick skin. 



Color. — The general ground tint ranges from 

 dark muddy olive green to brown or yellow, darker 

 on back and sides, paler below, and variously and 

 irregularly marked with darker bars and marblings, 

 which may be restricted to head and fins or may 

 extend over the whole fish, belly as well as back. 

 The toadfish, like many other bottom fishes, 

 changes color to match the bottom on which it 

 lies. 



Size. — Exceptionally 1 5 inches long, but few are 

 longer than 12 inches. 



Habits. — The toadfish lives in shoal water, and 

 it is resident the year around wherever found, 

 probable becoming torpid in winter in the northern 

 part of its range. It is commonest on sandy or 

 muddy bottom, hiding among eelgrass or under 

 stones where it hollows out dens in which it lies 

 in wait for prey. It is voracious and omnivorous, 

 Vinal Edwards's diet list for it at Woods Hole 

 including sea worms (Nereis), amphipods, shrimps, 



crabs, hermit crabs, a variety of mollusks both 

 univalve and bivalve, ascidians, squid, and fish 

 fry such as alewives, cunners, mummichogs, men- 

 haden, puffers, sculpins, scup. silversides, smelt, 

 and winter flounders. No doubt any small fish is 

 acceptable. 



Toadfish snap viciously when caught, and they 

 often fight among themselves. Like some sculpins 

 they grunt, especially at night or if handled. And 

 despite their clumsy appearance, they can dart 

 out of their hiding places and back again with 

 considerable speed. They are very tenacious of 

 life and can live out of water for an astonishingly 

 long time. 



In the northern part of its range the toadfish 

 spawns in June and early July. The very large 

 eggs (about 5 mm. in diameter) are laid in holes 

 under stones, under large shells, in old tin cans, 

 among sunken logs, or among eelgrass, where they 

 adhere in a single layer to whatever serves as a 

 nest, which the male guards during the 3 weeks or 

 so that are occupied by incubation. Even after 

 hatching the tadpole-shaped larvae remain at- 

 tached to the nest by the yolk sac until the latter 

 is absorbed at a length of 15 to 16 mm. when they 

 break free. 88 



General range. — Shoal water along the east 

 coast of North America from Cuba to Cape Cod, 

 straying northward to Maine. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The toadfish 

 is common about Woods Hole and thence west- 

 ward. But it ventures around Cape Cod so 



- Ryder (Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol. 6, 1887, p. 8) and Gudger (Bull. 

 U. 8. Bur. Fish., vol. 28, 1910, pt. 2, pp. 1071-1109, pla. 107-113) describe tho 

 breeding habits, eggs, and larvae of the toadfish. For further accounts 

 of its habits see 0111 (Smithsonian Mlscell. Coll., vol. 48, 1907, pp. 388-427). 



