Toadfish

noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Any of the ray-finned fishes of family Batrachoididae of benthic ambush predators.
  2. 2
    bottom-dwelling fish having scaleless slimy skin and a broad thick head with a wide mouth wordnet
  3. 3
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; banded toadfish, of Australia (Torquigener pleurogramma)
  4. 4
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; blackspotted toadfish, of the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans (Arothron nigropunctatus)
  5. 5
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; common toadfish (or toadfish), of Australia and New Zealand (Tetractenos hamiltoni)
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; prickly toadfish, of Australia and New Zealand (Contusus richei)
  2. 7
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; red striped toadfish, of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (Dichotomyctere erythrotaenia, syn. Tetraodon erythrotaenia)
  3. 8
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Tetraodontidae; smooth toadfish, of Australia (Tetractenos glaber)
  4. 9
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Psychrolutidae; dark toadfish (Neophrynichthys latus)
  5. 10
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Psychrolutidae; frilled toadfish, of Macquarie Island (Ambophthalmos magnicirrus)
  6. 11
    Any fish thought to resemble a toad; Certain species in family Psychrolutidae; pale toadfish of New Zealand (Ambophthalmos angustus)

Synonyms

All synonyms
fishfrogfishopsanus tau

Example

More examples

"It may be primitive and not too pleasant, but fish like croakers and toadfish hum, grunt, and growl for the same reasons as other vertebrates: to attract mates and to threaten territorial invaders."

Etymology

From toad + fish, in reference to their toadlike appearance.

Related phrases

ray finned

More for "toadfish"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.