Frog fish description. Unusual fish. What do you imagine when you hear the word toad?
If during upcoming vacation you want to see something truly unusual and impressive, we offer you our list of the most creepy creatures that can impress.
frog fish
A small and very unattractive frogfish lives in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. Outwardly, it strongly resembles a blob fish, only a little less sad and optimistic. It poses a serious danger to swimmers, as it has poisonous spines that can cause serious injury. The frog fish is slow and feeds on those that accidentally swim into its huge open mouth molluscs and small vertebrates.
Purple frog
The purple frog was discovered by scientists in 2003, so it recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. This species is a living fossil found in the Western Ghats and its habitat covers a tiny area of 14 square kilometers. The closest relatives of this brown lump of mucus live thousands of kilometers to the west - on Seychelles. She leads a reclusive lifestyle, eats termites and comes to the surface several times a year only to mate.
Brownie shark
Another extremely unattractive inhabitant of the oceans. In many sources it appears as a goblin shark. She received all her offensive nicknames for her ugly nose and retractable mouth with thin crooked teeth. Despite its terrifying appearance, this shark is only potentially dangerous to humans: it lives at very great depths and in order to encounter it, you will need to try very hard. In the same case, if you meet with her face to face, then a two hundred kilogram goblin shark will consider you quite a good breakfast.
Blob fish
When God created all living things and saw “that it was good,” he simply did not notice the blob fish. According to numerous Internet polls, the drop fish is the ugliest animal of all the inhabitants of the sea. On the other hand, the fish has such sad eyes, exuding some kind of incomprehensible existential melancholy, that it is unlikely that anyone could tell it to its face that it is ugly. When you look at this gloomy creature, the sadness from which no comedian can wash away, you understand that nature is still imperfect. The blobfish lives off the coast of Australia at a depth of about a kilometer and is endangered.
European anglerfish
Due to its unattractive appearance, this fish also received the name monkfish. This deep-sea animal can live at a depth of up to half a kilometer and is edible, especially in France. It has white, dense, boneless meat that is very popular in restaurants. Leads a sedentary lifestyle, lying on the bottom waiting for prey. In order to attract fish that can be eaten, it uses a luminous appendage near its mouth for hunting. The menacing appearance does not help anglers protect themselves from lovers of exotic cuisine, and their population is slowly decreasing.
Platypus
A beaver suffering from overeating with a duck beak and poisonous spurs on hind legs– what could be worse. Is one of the few poisonous mammals, which can seriously injure their offenders. The venom of the platypus is fatal to small animals, but it does not pose a serious threat to humans, except that it is fraught with a huge tumor and unbearable pain, which can last for several months. However, this unattractive animal is one of the symbols of Australia and is even depicted on a twenty-cent coin.
Aye-aye
This animal is also called the Madagascar bat. It has an oblong body with thin legs, with which it clings to tree branches. So nasty appearance can be explained by the not very beautiful hair that puffs up on the head. On the other hand, Aye-aye has some kind of charming charm and charisma. He may not be handsome, but he certainly has a very rich inner world.
Naked mole rat
This small animal would be a completely unremarkable burrowing rodent if it were not so ugly. His bald pink skin seems to show through, and his fine white stubble sticks out like antennae. Another curious feature of mole rats is their immunity to cancer and insensitivity to certain types of physical influence: they do not react in any way to thermal and chemical burns, and can live at extremely high concentrations of carbon dioxide. Naked mole rats have a strict internal hierarchy between individuals and differ from other rodents in their complex social structure. With such organization and endurance, it is not surprising that naked mole rats can live up to thirty years.
These fish received the name “toad” for their appearance, vaguely reminiscent of a toad: a wide mouth with a protruding lower jaw and round bulging eyes. This is where the similarities end, because poisonous toads- these are passively poisonous animals, and toad fish They have an active poisonous apparatus containing poisonous glands and the main weapon of active defense - spines on the gill covers (a thin hollow bone with holes for poison) and two thick spines on the front dorsal fin. Venom glands are located at the base of the dorsal fin spine and at the base of the gill spines. The poisonous glands do not lie in the groove of the spine, as in many other poisonous fish, but at the base of sharp piercing devices, the hole in which is like a duct for the poisonous secretion. These fish do not exceed 35 cm in length. The skin is bare, sometimes with small scales, covered with mucus.
Scientists highlight: Red Sea toadfish, found along the coasts of the Red Sea; Indian toadfish, living off the coast of India, Ceylon, Burma, Malaysia; Mediterranean toadfish, who has chosen the Mediterranean Sea; short toadfish, living in coastal waters Atlantic Ocean from the US coast to East India, and finally reticulated toadfish, living in the Pacific Ocean in the 6 regions of Central America.
Toad fish live in the waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean Sea. In summer they prefer warm shallow waters, and in winter they move to deeper waters. deep places where they lead a sedentary lifestyle. Interestingly, these fish can change body color, becoming lighter or darker, depending on environment, and if you also take into account their variegated natural coloring, then such fish can be difficult to notice near stones among algae, and even more so under a layer of silt. Often these aquatic life They enter the mouths of rivers and rise up against the current.
When pricked by toad fish Acute pain occurs, which spreads quite quickly from the site of the lesion, then swelling appears around the affected tissues, the skin turns red, and a burning sensation occurs. Little is known about the effect of toad fish venom on the human body, but the specialized literature does not describe deaths from injections of these fish. Nevertheless, it is better not to encounter them!
Toadfish (lat. Opsanus tau, English. Oyster Toadfish)- a species of fish of the toad-like family, or batrachidae (Batrachoididae).
Found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans on a muddy or sandy bottom, sometimes burying itself in it up to the eyes. Hunts for small fish, crabs, mollusks, worms, motionlessly lying in wait for prey that dares to approach it. The body consists mainly of a head, flattened, with a large mouth and reaches 20-35 centimeters in length. They have poisonous spines and pose a danger to swimmers. However, its poison is not fatal - a person who has received an injection from one of the gill spines (this is where the poison is released) will only feel pain and suffer a slight illness. It is best if you are unlucky enough to encounter a toad fish, take a hot bath or apply a hot compress to the bite site - under the influence high temperature The fish's poison disintegrates.
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Capable of making sounds that have the nature of a grinding, hoarse grunt or beep. Sounds are made to warn possible aliens that a given section of the bottom is occupied. Directly near the fish, these beeps sometimes have a force of over 100 decibels, reaching an intensity that is painful to the ear.
The fish has no scales, but its entire body is covered with growths and studded with many poisonous spines. The body color is yellowish-brown, with a motley pattern of black stripes and spots. Since the fish lives on a dirty muddy or sandy bottom, such camouflage camouflages the toad fish well, preventing itself from being detected small fish, crustaceans and molluscs. The fish attacks the prey that swims up with a lightning-fast jump from its hiding place, catching it by surprise.
Most of her body is her head, which has enormous proportions compared to her body. Its mouth opens very wide, which allows it to swallow quite big catch. The fish is very unpretentious, omnivorous. In the absence of a sufficient amount of the basic diet, he does not disdain plant foods.
The spawning period lasts from April to October, and during this time “toad singing” can be heard in its habitat. The volume of such “croaking” can reach 100 decibels, which is comparable to the noise of a subway car. Toad fish – caring parents. The female lays about 500 large orange eggs in some secluded place. The laying couple protects the nest until the eggs hatch. Over time, when the fry set off for free swimming, adult fish continue to protect their offspring until the juveniles gain enough experience to continue living independently.
If on the ocean coast you suddenly hear whistles reminiscent of steamships, followed by grumbling and grinding, do not be alarmed. Most likely, it is not the steamer that is in distress, but the toad fish informing its rivals that it has already occupied this area of territory. The beeps can be heard very often - up to three times per minute.
It lives at depths from 5 to 200 m. Commercial value does not have.
Photo of toad fish
The underwater world is rich in various inhabitants. Some are well known to us, others are not. Let's meet one of the unusual inhabitants World ocean. I want to ask a question.
What do you imagine when you hear the word toad?
Probably, many immediately have an image of a frog that lives in swamps and croaks. But it turns out that in the world of fish, there is also a toad, but only a fish.
The name itself fish - toad says that she should be like her namesake. And this is true. Her body is covered with growths and poisonous thorns. The scales characteristic of fish are absent. Most of The body consists of a large head on which high-set eyes are located.
This fish buries itself almost completely in sand or silt, leaving its eyes on the surface. She can remain in this position for hours, lying in wait for prey. The color of her body also helps with camouflage. The yellowish-brown color helps blend in with the bottom color. All this makes the fish almost invisible. And it turns out that the prey often goes into her mouth itself.
As soon as any fish swims past, the toad fish opens its huge mouth with lightning speed and swallows its prey. This fish is a predator, but in difficult times it can also feed on vegetation. But the most interesting thing is that it can “sing”, however, this property is not inherent in all toad fish, and only the three-spined toad fish is capable of making sounds similar to singing in two voices. Of the natural inhabitants, this is characteristic only of songbirds, some species of mammals and babies.
And the most unusual thing is that this singing is helped by, what would you think... a swim bladder. In the three-spined toad fish it is divided into two parts. Each part has muscles and nerve endings that can contract about 200 times per second. And as a result of these contractions, two-voice “singing” occurs. Other species of toadfish also make sounds, but these sounds are similar to grinding and grumbling. What is characteristic is that their swim bladder has a single structure.
The question arises: why does the toad fish need these sounds?
There is no clear answer. Perhaps in order to scare away enemies from their territory or to call a partner of the opposite sex during the mating season.
The mating season begins in June and early July. The female lays up to 500 eggs and for three weeks these eggs are guarded by the male, only sometimes he is replaced by the female. The fry closely resemble tadpoles. But even after the offspring have appeared, the parents take care of them, protecting them until the young fish gain experience and are strong enough to continue their independent lives.
Toadfish lives in warm tropical seas. She likes the waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans, her home is the reefs and mangroves off the coasts of China, Malaysia and Australia.
The toad fish has poisonous spines, but a prick with them fatal outcome does not lead, although it can bring a lot of trouble. Therefore, when walking in shallow water, you need to be careful not to step on this marine life.
And in conclusion, I would like to note that the saying “dumb as a fish” is not entirely true. As we see that there is a fish that can even sing.
It would seem that we live in a time when everything has already been discovered, found and studied, but there are no unknown animals left at all.
But, nevertheless, nature never tires of making surprises for people. An example of such a surprise was the discovery in 2009 by zoologists David Hall, Rachel Arnold and Ted Pietsch of Histiophryne psychedelica or, simply put, psychedelic fish- frogs. This is a small fish, only about fifteen centimeters long. But it has such an extraordinary appearance that initially it is even difficult to understand - is it a fish or something else?
The psychedelic fish is a representative of the order Anglerfish; zoologists consider it a “relative” of the monkfish.
But they have differences: to attract prey, they use a special appendage on their head, and the psychedelic frog fish has developed its own methods of hunting, for which the presence of an appendage is simply not required. Psychedelic fish, like monkfish, belongs to the clownfish family, in which this fish has other “relatives”, including the painted frogfish.
One of characteristic features psychedelic fish (as well as other frog fish) is the presence of thick and flabby skin. But this fish has no scales at all. Common habitats for psychedelic fish are coral reefs. This is a great place to hunt. But there is also reverse side medals - it can harm the skin of psychedelic fish. This explains the fact that the skin of this fish is often covered with mucus, which allows it to avoid injury from sharp corals.
The psychedelic frogfish has an unusual coloration - many stripes of white, brown and yellowish colors that form an intricate motley pattern. Just like fingerprints on humans and stripes on tigers, the pattern of stripes on each psychedelic fish is completely individual.
At first glance, it may seem that with its variegated color, the psychedelic fish can scare off potential prey. In fact, the opposite is true: these multi-colored stripes on the frogfish’s body resemble corals, and it is precisely this circumstance that helps it to camouflage itself perfectly. Sometimes it is simply impossible to distinguish fish from coral without special equipment. Most often, the psychedelic frog fish can be seen in coral reefs near the island of Bali in Indonesia.
The eyes of the psychedelic fish also attract attention. Although they are quite small in size, they actually give the impression of being quite large due to the bright turquoise spots located on the head of the fish. They are also called “slaps”. The psychedelic frogfish, like most other creatures of the sea, has potential opponents.
To scare them away, the frog fish has developed its own method of intimidation: it protrudes its mouth forward, as a result of which the fish’s head visually increases in size. And her enemy cannot stand such a spectacle and retreats. The eyes of a psychedelic fish are located in the same way as those of a person: in front, and not on the sides, as is typical for most fish.