Common toadfish

Species of fish

Common toadfish

Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Actinopterygii
Order:  | Tetraodontiformes
Family:  | Tetraodontidae
Genus:  | Tetractenos
Species:  |

T. hamiltoni

Binomial name
Tetractenos hamiltoni

(J. Richardson, 1846)

The common toadfish (Tetractenos hamiltoni), also known as the common toado, toadfish or toado,[1] (formerly classified as Tetrodon hamiltoni[2][3] or Torquigener hamiltoni) is a species of fish in the family Tetraodontidae of order Tetraodontiformes, found along Australia's eastern coast, from northern Queensland to Flinders Island, and around Lord Howe Island,[1] as well as in New Zealand waters. It often buries itself in sand with only its eyes exposed.[4]

The fish is sandy to whitish in colour, with small brown spots over most of the back and upper sides, and brown bars and blotches beneath.[5] It has a maximum length of 14 cm.[4] It is similar in appearance to the smooth toadfish, but has smaller spots and more prominent spines in the skin.[5]

Like some other fish, the common toadfish is able to vary the amount of pigment in its cornea, which becomes yellow in colour under bright light.[6]

It is (rarely) used as an aquarium fish for brackish-water aquariums. Along with related toadfish species, it is known in Australia as a "toadie."

As with other fish of this family, the flesh is poisonous, due to tetrodotoxin, and eating the fish can have fatal consequences.[7]

## See also[edit]

* Aquarium fishery
* Smooth toadfish, Tetractenos glaber
* List of brackish aquarium fish species

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Australian Faunal Directory: Tetractenos hamiltoni". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2010-03-08.
2. ^ World Register of Marine Species - Tetractenos hamiltoni (Richardson, 1846), accessed 8 March 2010.
3. ^ G.S. Hardy, "Revision of Australian species of Torquigener Whitley (Tetraodontiformes: Tetraodontidae), and two new generic names for Australian puffer fishes," Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 13, No. 1/2, 1983, pp. 1–48. [1]
4. ^ a b Fishbase - Tetractenos hamiltoni, accessed 8 March 2010 (find mirrors).
5. ^ a b Australian Museum: Common Toadfish.
6. ^ Ulrike E. Siebeck, Shaun P. Collin, Majid Ghoddusi, and N. Justin Marshall, "Occlusable corneas in toadfishes: light transmission, movement and ultrastruture of pigment during light- and dark-adaptation," Journal of Experimental Biology, Volume 206, 2177-2190 (2003).
7. ^ Puffer fish poisoning: a potentially life-threatening condition, accessed 8 March 2010.

Taxon identifiers|

* Wikidata: Q2680881
* Wikispecies: Tetractenos hamiltoni
* AFD: Tetractenos_hamiltoni
* BOLD: 140485
* CoL: 7BQVT
* FishBase: 55042
* GBIF: 2407624
* iNaturalist: 349323
* IRMNG: 10883561
* ITIS: 646370
* IUCN: 193784
* NCBI: 303749
* WoRMS: 282945

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