toad-fish
(ˈtəʊdfɪʃ)
A name applied, from their appearance, to several distinct fishes; esp. a. A swell-fish, or puffer, spec. Tetrodon turgidus, the common puffer of the Atlantic coast of the United States; also, a fish belonging to any of numerous other species of the family Tetraodontidæ, many of which are poisonous. b. The sea-devil, fishing-frog, angler, or wide-gab, Lophius piscatorius. c. American toad-fish, the oyster-fish (Sapo of the Portuguese), Batrachus tau, of the Atlantic coast of U.S.A. d. Brazilian toad-fish, Chilomycterus geometricus. e. poisonous toad-fish, Thalassophryne, also species of Tetrodon. f. The mouse-fish, Antennarius histrio, or other species of Antennarius.
| 1612 Capt. Smith Map Virginia 15 The Todefish which will swell till it be like to brust, when it commeth into the aire. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts vi. (1704) 534/1 There are many venomous Fishes upon that Coast [Brazil], as namely the Toad-fish, of a small bigness. 1668 Charleton Onomast. 130 Rana piscatrix..the Monk, Toad, Nass, or Devil-Fish, or Fishing-Frog. 1704 Petiver Gazophyl. ii. xx, Piscis Brasilianus cornutus. The American Toad-Fish. Ibid., The Brasil Toad-Fish..found on the shores of Brasil, and several other Coasts of the West-Indies. 1736 Gentl. Mag. VI. 618/1 At Powderham, Devonshire, a Toad-Fish was thrown ashore; it is 4 Foot long, has a Head like a Toad,..and the Mouth opens 12 Inches wide. 1816 Tuckey Narr. Exped. R. Zaire ii. (1818) 61 The only fish taken since we have been in muddy ground were two toad fish (Diodon) and several eels. 1845 Gosse Ocean vii. (1849) 342 The Toad-fishes, or Anglers (Antennarius), whose pectoral and ventral fins have much of the form and also the functions of the feet of a quadruped. 1860 Richardson in Jrnl. Linn. Soc. (1861) V. 213 The Toad-fish of the Cape is a Diodon. 1860 Jameson ibid., A poisonous fish, known at the Cape by the name of the Toad- or Bladder-fish. 1871 G. Bennett in N.S.W. Med. Gaz. I. 176 (title) On the ‘toad fish’..of New South Wales. 1923 Med. Jrnl. Austral. 1 Dec. 572/1 The toad fish belongs to the genus Tetraodon of which a number of species are known to be poisonous. 1974 [see toado]. |