North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Fished the bay today and caught this ugly bugger, any ideas what he is ?, pretty sure its not a stone fish but something similar, had the water police pull up for a chat as well and check all the safety gear, luckily everything was in date, flares expire in Feb, probably a good idea to check all your gear over xmas as they are going to be out and about, on another note he seems to think old mate with all the goldies should start looking for a new boat as he wont be getting this one back!!!

Papuain jawfish I think.

Not the Papuan Jawfish but I cant remember what it is. Too many beers and dead brain cells. Looks like the monkfish family but not sure if they are up in the NT

yer, we used to call them monkey fish but not sure on the real name.

yep , only looked on my phone before eyes are wrong for a Papuan ,
but if your getting these your off the reef on mud, time to move.

I have researched as much as I can on these things on the net after catching my first one 10 odd years ago. Called a monk fish or frog fish. Same species as the Papuan but there's a shitloads of sub species so hard to pinpoint which one.
Ugly little fuckers though

Looks a bit like a gurnard to me or could be a flathead pic taken at a wierd angle you got any other pics

Tiz a toadfish, Opsanus species, not sure which one.

I think Ern Grant's book called them a "ghoul" but I can't find my copy just now.

I caught one up a creek in Bynoe.

Nasty spines on them if it is Opsanus.

here's another angle ,same fish I think not wrong about the spikes Matt

Got a face only a mother could love

Yep that's it Gulf Toadfish or grunting toadfish

Shags any idea how toxic the spines are .?

Ugly bastard of a fish.
I've seen similar caught in the Torres Straits.
Also heard the sting can be awful.