Odd fellows…

Most anglers know what they have caught when they catch a flounder or a
striper, but sometimes anglers pull up some prehistoric looking thing at the
end of their rod and scream “What is it!”

One common prehistoric fish we catch often in Ocean City and that most
anglers call a “trash fish” is the Northern Sea Robin. They have kind of an
orangey-brown color with muted black stripes. They have three sets of
pectoral fins with the one set being so big that their fins span out and
look like wings. Thus you see where it gets its name, the sea robin! One
set of fins look like three “feelers” on each side of its body. In nature,
they actually use these fins to walk across the bottom floor and turn over
rocks looking for food. They have razor sharp gill covers and their head is
covered with bony plates. They also have spines making their appearance even
more bizarre looking. When you catch one they make a croaking sound.

Anglers in Ocean City catch them all over the bay when flounder fishing.
They don’t get big with the largest ones being around 16-inches. These
bigger ones can give the angler quite a fight. You can eat them but they
have lots of little bones and not much meat. I tried one once and thought
they were tasteless so never tried it again. Sea robins also hang out
offshore on the shoals. Anglers fishing for sea bass often get into huge
schools of them offshore. Some anglers offshore cut strips out of them for
flounder bait. I’ve tried that but never had much luck with it, but others
apparently have. Catching them is fun for the kids and they eat any kind of
cut bait including squid. They don’t bite and the only way they can hurt you
is to “thorn” you with one of their prickly spines. Use gloves or a rag when
taking a sea robin off the hook!

“The eyes were on top of its head. It had teeth and was big! I was scared to
even touch it!!!”

That’s when we know the angler might have caught a stargazer and it’s a good
idea not to touch one! They can produce a weak electric current from organs
located behind their eyes. The best way to get one off the hook is to use a
long handled hook remover. Apparently, they live buried in the sand with
just their eyes uncovered. That’s why their eyes are sitting on top of their
head. They lie covered and come out only to grab their dinner and then bury
themselves again. They can be big! I’ve taken pictures of them up to 5
pounds. They have been known to get as large as 20 pounds!

Stargazers are usually dark colored and have small spots on their bodies.
They can pick up the color of their environment, so sometimes they are
darker and other times lighter in color. Stargazers have a large, upturned
mouth with a row of teeth you do not want to put your finger into! Their
eyes are located on the top of the head, close to the mouth. They also have
spines. They are edible but few people eat them. Bait? Any kind of cut bait
or live bait will work.

“It was long and skinny and had teeth. Not real big? What was it?”

It is likely that it was an inshore lizardfish! It gets its name because
its head looks like a lizard! It is prehistoric looking, but unlike the sea
robin and stargazer, it is soft to the touch. In fact, small ones make great
flounder or striper baits if live baited whole. A fillet of lizardfish also
makes a good flounder bait. I actually look for these fish later in the
season for flounder fishing. They are one of my favorite baits!

Many anglers have mistaken the lizardfish for a snakehead fish. The
lizardfish is brownish or greenish with a silvery side and belly. They range
7 to 13-inches in length. The body is elongated and roundish with a snout
that is pointed and the mouth is full of sharp teeth. The tail fin is forked
and the top fin is high and short. They take any kind of cut bait and are
usually caught by anglers fishing for flounder, spot, and croaker in the
bay.

“It blew up when I caught it!”

Well, most of us living in Ocean City know that it’s a blowfish. It is also
called a Northern Puffer and is usually caught on small hooks baited with
squid and worms. Blowfish are often caught from the 9th Street Pier, around
the Rt. 90 Bridge, and the Oceanic Pier. We see them around inlets, along
the bulkhead along 2nd through 4th Streets, and also along the green marshes
on the bayside. Usually they hang around some kind of rocky bottom feeding
on worms and little crabs. We also catch them in the surf occasionally. They
are brown in color with spots and have a white bottom that feels like sand
paper. They have rabbit-like teeth.

Many people are scared to eat the blowfish because they confuse them with a
Southern Puffer that can be toxic. The Northern blowfish are non-toxic and
are often sold as “sea squab” in the North. They are one of my favorite
species to eat and if I catch one in Ocean City I keep them to eat.

“How do I clean one?”

Cut the blowfish just below the head about three-quarters of the way through
the body. You will see a white piece of meat sticking out of the body. With
a pair of gloves, grasp this piece of meat and pull it away from the skin.
It comes out in one piece. Blowfish do not have bones but have cartilage
like a shark. Fry or sauté this piece of fish meat just the way it is (of
course, wash off any entrails clinging to it); it is delicious and sweet
meat.

“It was disgusting looking!”

This would have to be an Oyster Toadfish, also called an Oyster Cracker
Fish. The oyster toadfish is an unusually shaped, large-headed fish that
generally lives along oyster reefs and vegetated muddy bottoms. It is brown
and muddy looking with dangerous looking teeth. Its skin has no scales but
is covered instead by thick mucous and sometimes warts. When touched, this
fish feels soft and squishy. Oyster toadfish have a tapering body with a
plump belly and a large, flat head that tapers to a thin tail. Its nose is
rounded, and it has a tremendous mouth with large, blunt teeth. Thick fleshy
flaps of skin surround its lips and eyes. There are two sharp spines,
located on the gill covers, which the oyster toadfish uses for defense. The
ventral fins stretch out like fans and are located under its throat in front
of the gill openings. It looks somewhat like a Stargazer but it is brown and
soft. The toadfish has no commercial value and is generally considered a
nuisance due to its powerful and potentially dangerous jaws that make it
tough to get off your hook. The books say it is edible but I don’t know
anyone that has tried cleaning one.

They can live for hours out of the water and NASA has actually done studies
with them and sent them into space! Like the Horseshoe Crab the oyster toad
also plays an important role in medical research.
It seems we tend to catch an oyster toadfish when the tide is slack and
nothing else is biting. I’ve even caught them in Florida. In Ocean City,
many seem to live directly underneath the Route 90 Bridge and along the
bulkhead between Second and Forth Streets. We often catch them when tautog
fishing at the bulkhead or inlets at slack tides.

It’s definitely an “odd fellow”….

Good fishing…