Smooth toadfish

Smooth toadfish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Tetraodontiformes
Family: Tetraodontidae
Genus: Tetractenos
Species: T. glaber
Binomial name
Tetractenos glaber
Fréminville, 1813
Distribution of the smooth toadfish

The smooth toadfish or smooth toado[1] (Tetractenos glaber, formerly classified as Tetrodon glaber[2][3] or Torquigener glaber[4]) is a species of fish in the Tetraodontidae family of order Tetraodontiformes, found along Australia's eastern and southeast coast, from northern Queensland to South Australia and Tasmania.[1] It is one of the most abundant fishes in the muddy areas of Port Philip Bay.[5]

The diet of the smooth toadfish includes molluscs and small crabs, and it often follows the tide into estuaries in search of food.[6] The fish has a maximum length of 15 cm.[7] As with other fish of this family, the flesh is poisonous,[6] due to tetrodotoxin, and eating the fish can have fatal consequences.[8]

Because it is a common estuarine fish, it has been used in studies of heavy metal contamination in coastal waters.[9]

Along with related toadfish species, the smooth toadfish is known in Australia as a "toadie."[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Australian Faunal Directory: Tetractenos glaber.
  2. ^ World Register of Marine Species - Tetractenos glaber (Fréminville, 1813), accessed 27 January 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. ^ Sarah L. Green, "Ultrastructure and innervation of the swimbladder of Tetractenos glaber (Tetraodontidae)," Cell and Tissue Research, Volume 237, No. 2, August, 1984, pp. 277-284. [2]
  5. ^ Melbourne's Wildlife (Museum Victoria, 2006), 324.
  6. ^ a b c Marine Education Society of Australasia web site, accessed 27 January 2010.
  7. ^ Fishbase - Tetractenos glaber, accessed 27 January 2010 (find mirrors).
  8. ^ Puffer fish poisoning: a potentially life-threatening condition, accessed 8 March 2010.
  9. ^ Ralph Alquezar, Scott J. Markich, and David J. Booth, "Metal accumulation in the smooth toadfish, Tetractenos glaber, in estuaries around Sydney, Australia," Environmental Pollution, Volume 142, No. 1, July 2006, pp. 123-131, ISSN 0269-7491, DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2005.09.010. [3]