Oyster toadfish

Oyster toadfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Batrachoidiformes
Family:Batrachoididae
Genus:Opsanus
Species: O. tau
Binomial name
Opsanus tau
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Synonyms[2]
  • Gadus tau Linnaeus, 1766
  • Opsanus cerapalus Rafinesque, 1818

The oyster toadfish, Opsanus tau, also known as the ugly toad, oyster cracker, oyster catcher, and bar dog, is a Northwest Atlantic species of fish of the family Batrachoididae. The maximum length of this toadfish is 43.2 cm (17 in), but they infrequently surpass 38 cm (15 in). They are generally yellowish with a pattern of brown oblique bars.

The species can live in poor conditions and needs little food to live. It is an omnivore. Common prey include crustaceans, mollusks, amphipods, squid, and other smaller fish. Oyster toadfish rely upon camouflage to catch their food; they lie motionless waiting for prey to pass close by, then attack by surprise. They can be found near the shore from Maine to the Florida.

Oyster toadfish

The fish has a distinctive "foghorn" sound used by males to attract females in the mating season, which is April–October. The sound-producing (sonic) muscles attached to its swimbladders are the fastest known vertebrate muscles. Following the foghorn sound, the female comes into the nest, lays eggs, and then leaves (the toadfish lays the largest eggs of any Chesapeake Bay fish). The male fertilizes the eggs; they hatch after about one month. When the eggs hatch, the young toadfish stay attached to the yolk for some time. When the yolk has been absorbed for energy, the young toadfish learn to swim. Even when the young have started to swim, the adult still protects its young.

In 1998, NASA sent the oyster toadfish into space to investigate the effects of microgravity on the development of otolithic organs. The study found little difference between terrestrial development and those in space.

References

  1. ↑ Collette, B.B. (2015). "Opsanus tau". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T16441738A16509767. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  2. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2018). "opsanus tau" in FishBase. February 2018 version.
  • "Opsanus tau". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 30 January 2006.
  • Hear the foghorn-like sound of the oyster toadfish, from
  • the NASA experiment
  • more NASA
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.