Opsanus tau
Size: to 15"
Habitat:
Generally inshore on hard bottoms and in shellfish beds, in 30-40 foot depths.
Notes:
Small but feisty, this fish may snap at your fingers with its powerful jaws when caught. Up close, Toadfish have ugly ogre-like faces, and eyes that seem to glow red from inside. They also make loud croaking noises during the breeding season. Toadfish are favorite laboratory subjects and have even flown in orbit on the Space Shuttle.
From way back when in 1996 ...
In the dive reflex, heart rate and limb blood flow decrease. Careful science ( that means we didn't accidentally step on the thermisters ) shows time and again that the dive reflex does not reduce the need for oxygen underwater as it does in marine mammals. Field studies ( where you're allowed to step on the thermisters ) indicate that the dive reflex does not extend breath-holding time. Occasional cases of human survival after very cold water near-drowning are not due to the dive reflex. Cold is the likely mechanism behind the reduced metabolism that permits survival.
More: Diving Myths ...
