Did you know that Splendid Toadfish vocalize?

[uncfnp]

Well I didn’t until my last trip to Cozumel. During a night dive at Paradise Reef I kept hearing this repetitive honking noise, some times soft and distant, other time loud and almost as if right beside me. I would look around but see nothing unusual. It seemed most like the noise I might expect from a boat or a signaling device.

I mentioned this sound back on the boat and got a very unexpected answer. It was the Splendid Toadfish! So I went through our clips and there it is. Its soft and I would not have noticed unless I knew the sound and was listening for it. You can find better examples if you google it but here are too short clips from our dive. The first video it is at 7 seconds. The second is at 4 seconds. Both times the sound is repeated three times.

 

[gopbroek]

Why yes they do. They croak like a toad.

 

[northernone]

I've been blaming my dive computer vibrating alarm for that sound!!! Could never figure out why it was randomly honking.

Made my night!

Thank you.
Cameron

 

[MMM]

Yes they do. Whenever I hear them, I stop and look around for where it's coming from...

 

[Johnoly]

.... other time loud and almost as if right beside me.....

It's pretty cool to hear underwater and always generates a discussion from the divers back on the boat..."What was that? LOL! "

 

[ggunn]

I've heard them, too.

 

[Schwob]

I had no idea...
... and if one is to believe Wikipedia, they quiet down when they hear dolphins, wo apparently really like toadfish as a food source ...

 

[RyanT]

Very cool experience! Unlike other vertebrates, toadfish don't have a larynx that they can pass air through to vibrate vocal cords. To achieve the sound, they have specialized muscles surrounding their swim bladder. Rapid contractions of these muscles vibrates the fish's body wall, and the swim bladder acts as a cavity resonator (much like the interior of an acoustic guitar).

 

[morecowbells]

This is so cool! I have been told that they make a croaking noise, but never heard it. Is this something done primarily at night?

 

[deepsea21]

I haven't heard a Splendid croak before but, then again, maybe I have and I just chalked it up to yet another distant and crazy UW noise maker like that stupid air-powered duck quacker.