I074 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



According to Miss Clapp : 



There is something singularly grotesque in the appearance of the toadfish; and, 

 as its name would imply, there is a superficial resemblance to the famiUar batrachian. 

 The sluggish disposition, the mottled brown and gray of the wrinkled, scaleless skin, 

 the depressed head and toadish eyes do not suggest the typical teleost. The young 

 fish are tadpole-like in their form and motions. * * * it will be seen that 

 there are quite conspicuous projections of the skin on the head. Besides the 

 paired flaps found in connection with the sense organs, there are other single, often 

 longer projections to be found, which become laciniated in the older fish. These are 

 especially prominent about the mouth, fringing the margin of the lower mandible and 

 opercular regions, while over each eye rises a broad conspicuous flap, giving an owl- 

 like facial expression. * * * Xhe function of these skinny tentacles seems 

 evidently to be for protection, as they strikingly resemble both in color and form the 

 seaweed (Fncus) that abounds near their favorite haunts. 



Toadfish are somewhat variable in color, but may, generally speaking, 

 be grouped in three classes — those which are a muddy green, those with brown 

 on the upper parts, and those which approximate yellow. I am inclined to 

 think that the former are found largely in deeper water, the latter two classes 

 in shallows. There is, it must be understood, no definite line of demarcation, 

 since all degrees of gradation from class one to two and to three exist. Perhaps 

 the greatest variation, however, is not so much in the ground color as in the 

 markings and blotches which render one fish distinguishable from another. 

 These markings, generally of darker color, are found on the head and fins, 

 particularly the dorsal and caudal. One very large fish of particular marking 

 comes to mind. This was a brown male with an enormous head, the whole 

 right side of which was of a velvety black color, the bright eye with its St. 

 Andrew's cross being near the center. This fish always recalled a bulldog with 

 a black patch covering the right side of the head. It may be added that the 

 toadfish has to a considerable degree the power of changing its color to corre- 

 spond with the bottom on which it happens to find itself. 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT. 



When one considers the abundance in which this fish is found along the 

 Atlantic coast, the large size of the eggs, and the ease with which, owing to the 

 nesting habits of the parents, the eggs can be obtained, one wonders that the 

 embryology and habits of the toadfish have never been worked out. But, 

 excepting two short papers by Ryder, there has been no attempt to study the 

 life history of Opsanus tau. There are, however, several papers, long or short, 

 dealing with the habits and with the development of particular organs, which 

 will be referred to later. Since those particular points in the articles cited which 

 touch upon this research are referred to at length in the body of this paper, the 

 references in most cases taking the form of quotations, it will not be necessary 

 here to do more than list the papers and give a general synopsis of their contents. 



