Pleated toadfish. Photo by Andrew Taylor Pleated toadfish. Photo by Andrew Taylor Pleated toadfish. Photo by Guido Zsilavecz	Andrew Taylor asks what species of toadfish this is. He was also confused as to why the two individuals had a different pattern, and wondered if they are not two species. Both are pleated toadfishes. Toadfishes, family Batrachoididae, are compressed (flat), broad fishes with generally wide mouths. The second photo shows an individual still with the juvenile colouration, in that is has that pale band between the eyes and down the cheeks, and a second further back on the head. The photo by Guido shows a juvenile of 10 cm length. Two species occur in the Cape Town area, the pleated toadfish Batrichthys felinus and the snakehead toadfish Batrichthys apiatus. For more information and pictures, see the entry of the 26th of June on the Question and Answer tab. See "Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay", available from SURG, for more details.
References: Coastal fishes of the Cape Peninsula and False Bay, a divers' identification guide, G Zsilavecz, 2005. Smiths' Sea Fishes, MM Smith and PC Heemstra, 1986.
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