toadies and more sea jellies

Someone known as Banjo sent a question about toadfish to MESA's Ask a Marine Biologist section. Banjo had seen masses of toadfish (commonly known as toadies) in the shallows at Phillip Island. The were probably the Smooth Toadfish Tetractenos glaber.

In southern Australia both the Smooth Toadfish and the Banded Toadfish Torguigener pleurogramma commonly follow the tide into shallow estuaries, searching for crabs or any other food that may be caught by the incoming tide. Both species often do this in large numbers.

As I have seen similarly large numbers of toadies, I would be interested to find out if this is a seasonal thing, perhaps relating to breeding cycles or abundance of a particular kind of food.

the Smooth Toadfish
Tetractenos glaber
(click thumbnail for full image)

the large sea jelly
Pseudorhiza haeckeli
(click thumbnail for full image)

Banjo also asked if toadies are poisonous - the answer is yes, the flesh of both toadfish is poisonous, even fatal if enough is eaten.

I needed another photograph for this entry so I have included the sea jelly Pseudorhiza haeckeli that I found washed ashore recently and have seen while snorkelling in Port Phillip Bay.

The link between sea jellies and fish might not be instantly obvious but there is one. However, large sea jellies, such as Pseudorhiza haeckeli and the Mosaic Sea Jelly Catostylus mosaicus (go back to sea jelly time), are often accompanied by juvenile fish (not juvenile toadies, but I have seen young leatherjackets sheltering in the tentacles of these sea jellies).