Thalassophryne maculosa

Thalassophryne maculosa, the Cano toadfish, is a species of toadfish which is common along the Caribbean coasts of South America from Colombia to Trinidad and Venezuela.[1] It occurs on the sandy bottoms of reef flats, lagoons, and seaward edges of reefs where it sits partially buried in the substrate. It is a venomous species with the venom being delivered through spines and wounds from the spines have been known to cause severe symptoms of pain and illness that may persist for up to a week.[2] A study of the holotype of Batrachus uranoscopus, said to be a freshwater toadfish from Madagascar, in the Muséum national d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris found that it was most probably a misslabelled specimen of Thalassophryne maculosa and that subsequent records of Batrachus uranoscopus were attributable to Allenbatrachus meridionalis, a species found in Madagascar.[3] T. maculosa is the type species of the genus Thalassophryne,[4] the generic name translates from Greek as "sea toad" while the specific name is Latin for "spotted".[5]

Thalassophryne maculosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Batrachoidiformes
Family: Batrachoididae
Genus: Thalassophryne
Species:
T. maculosa
Binomial name
Thalassophryne maculosa
Günther, 1861
Synonyms[2]
  • Batrachus uranoscopus Guichenot, 1866
  • Thalassophryne wehekindi Fowler, 1931

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Collette, B.; Aiken, K.A. & Polanco Fernandez, A. (2015). "Thalassophryne maculosa". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T16442003A16509702. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T16442003A16509702.en.
  2. ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Thalassophryne maculosa". FishBase. February 2018 version.
  3. ^ Bruce B. Collette & David W. Greenfield (2009). "Batrachus uranoscopus Guichenot, 1866 supposedly from Madagascar, is not a threatened species of toadfish (Batrachoididae)" (PDF). Cybium. 22 (1): 79–80.
  4. ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Thalassophryne". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  5. ^ Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara (26 July 2017). "Order BATRACHOIDIFORMES (Toadfishes)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 21 July 2018.