[We quote these interesting details from a paper on the Sargasso
Weed, or gulf weed, with which a certain part of the Atlantic
Ocean is generally covered, and amongst which Toad Fish are
found. The reason of the weed accumulating has given rise to much
difference of opinion, which is the main subject of the above
communication, by Mr. Benet, of Bulstrode-street, to the _Naval
Magazine_[5]]
[5] We are happy to perceive that the above journal rises
in interest and value as it proceeds; and merits all the
encouragement our notice of its first appearance may have induced
our readers to confer upon it.
[Illustration: Toad Fish]
The figure represents one of those fishes to which, on account of
their uncouth appearance, the name of Toad Fish has been popularly
given. Under this denomination there have been included many very
dissimilar kinds, extreme ugliness being held as alone sufficient for
the establishment of an undeniable claim to the title. The present
fish, and those nearly related to it, advance, however, peculiar
claims to the appellation. Their belly and side fins are borne upon
supports which project from the body in the semblance of limbs, their
similarity to which is increased by the jointed form they acquire at
the point of union of the fin with its support, and still farther
by the finger-like appearance of the rays of these fins, which are
unconnected by membrane at their tips. This curious structure imparts
to these fishes not only somewhat of the outward form of a quadruped,
but also a portion of its habits, and they are, accordingly, capable
of crawling like toads among the sea-weeds and rocks which they
usually inhabit; the side fins, which are placed farther back than
those of the belly, performing on each occasion the functions of
hinder feet. Nor is this mode of locomotion confined to the water
alone; it may, also, be exercised by them on land, for their
gill-openings are so small, that evaporation takes place but slowly
from within them, and thus the gills are kept moistened, and the
circulation of the blood is preserved, even out of the water, for two
or three days. So remarkable a deviation from the usual appearance and
habits of the class to which they belong, has naturally caused them to
be regarded as objects of curiosity; and it is recorded, that living
specimens have been successfully transported from the East to Holland,
where they have been sold at considerable prices.
The fishes of this genus, to which Commerson gave the name of
Antennarius, (on account of the filament which they possess on the
forehead,) are met with in the sea of warm climates, in the east as
well as in the west. They subsist chiefly on small crabs, to surprise
which they hide themselves among the sea-weed, or behind stones. Their
flesh is said not to be edible; it may, perhaps, have been rejected,
on account of their disgusting appearance, and is certainly too small
in quantity to allow of its being important as an article of food.
In swimming, they usually gulp down air, and, thus distending their
capacious stomachs, enlarge themselves into a rounded half-floating
mass, much in the same manner as the globe of balloon fishes. Their
nearest affinity is to the fishes known as anglers, with which
they agree in the form of their gill-openings and fins, and in
the possession of filaments on the head; but the monstrously
disproportioned head of the anglers, which is depressed from
above downwards, and the enormous opening of their mouth, readily
distinguish them from the Toad Fishes, whose head is of moderate size,
and, like their bodies, compressed laterally. They are either smooth
or variously hairy or bristly, and are always destitute of the regular
scales with which fishes are generally invested. They are furnished,
especially on the lips and the under parts, with numerous short, loose
processes of skin, which add considerably to their sense of touch.
There is great variety in the different kinds in the length of the
filament on the head, and its termination is still more varied; in
some it is almost simple, as though formed of a single undilated hair;
in others, it is surmounted by a small, dense, globular mass of short
filaments; and in others again, it has two, or even three large fleshy
processes at its end, not unlike the baits which terminate the fishing
filaments of the anglers.
In the species figured, the Antennarius Iaevigatus, the skin is
smooth, and furnished with short loose processes; the filament on the
head is short, and terminated by a small knob of clustered minute
filaments; this is succeeded by two other processes, each resembling
a fin supported by a single ray, and fringed, especially towards its
upper part, by loose portions of skin; to these succeed the back fin,
supported, as usual, by many rays. The colour is pale, irregularly
blotched, spotted, and streaked with brown, the markings varying
considerably in different individuals; it is also dotted irregularly
with white. By these characters it may be known from the other species
of the genus, with which it appears to have been associated by
Linnaeus, under the common name of Lophius Histrio. It was first
scientifically distinguished by M. Bosc, a French naturalist, who
observed it, on his voyage to America, among the Sargasso weed: he
described and figured it, not without some imperfections, in the
Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle. It has since been figured,
but not described, by Dr. Mitchell in the Transactions of the New York
Society; and one very nearly resembling it has been described by Mr.
Bennett with a figure, in the Geological Journal. The genus to which
it belongs is most completely treated of by M. Cuvier, in the Memoires
du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle.
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