A Humbling Experience

[redacted]

When I was younger growing up in NJ, we used to enjoy summer afternoons trying to replace all the beer in a cooler with cherrystone clams - usually quite successfully. We had a local fish known as an oyster cracker that I believe was actually a variety of the toad fish. There was always some concern about one of them finding your probing toes/feet. But once the cooler was about half full of clams no one seemed very worried any more.

 

[mike_s]

I had to go search through a few old threads to see what kind of fish it was, but I have had a "dental experience" with a Toadfish. I guess I'm lucky he didn't bite me.

In 2005, SeaYoda and I found a small (10" or so) toadfish that swallowed a hook connected to line to a heavy sinker caught in the rocks at the Destin Jetties. He could lift it up and swim it for about a few feet before the weight of the sinker brought him back down.

anyway, we couldn't get the hook out underwater, or get the steel leader cut, or get the swivel clasp undone either. So we just held on to the line and took our "new pet toadfish" for a walk (swim) while we finished the dive. Once we got into the calm shallow surface waters we were able to get the clasp undone at the surface and he swam away a happier fish. (he still had the hook in his mounth, but that's better than being attached to a steel leader on a heavy sinker).

might even have a pic of that fish on the line as were were swiming along somewhere....

I guess he knew not to bite us, but it looks like from reading the above posts that there bites can be bad.

reference http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-conch-divers/96478-destin-jetties-dive-report-5-7-05-a.html

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

WOW, that will really make you pay attention where you put your hands. Thats a bunch of teeth.

 

[aquaknott]

I just looked it up,

Toadfish are so honoree because they have all those teeth and no toothbrush,


Glad you were not seriously hurt TT.

 

[divechaplain-sara]

That thumb looked like a Vienna sausage--somebody's been feeding the salt water fish. The perch were bad to bite at our ears at one of the dive sites I went to in Texas--we didn't just wear the hoods for thermal protection.