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Western leopard toad
The Western leopard toad uses camouflage to blend into its environment and hide from predators.
The Western Cape is the only place in the world where you will find Western leopard toads.
They live in natural vegetation, on farms and in compost heaps in gardens, but move to water, especially wetlands, to mate and lay their eggs.
Keep your eyes open for Western leopard toads on the roads particularly in August when they are breeding and in November when the young toads are making their way from the water to land. Please brake for the toads!
The snoring toad
Male Western leopard toads start calling in early spring – their call sounds just like loud snoring! When you hear them calling you will know that they are about to start moving towards water, where they will mate and lay their eggs.
Many Western leopard toads are killed during the breeding season as they have to get through or over garden walls, pavements and roads to get to their breeding sites near water. If you see a toad on the road, please pick it up and put it on the other side of the road (in the same direction in which it was going).
Teddy, the tongueless toad
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This Western leopard toad, named Teddy, was found at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) after nature conservation staff based at Kenilworth Racecourse received a call from a concerned SAAO staff member, reporting an injured toad with its “tongue hanging out of its mouth”. Conservation staff rushed to site and found the toad in a terrible condition. He had most likely been hit by a car and was very thin. He had a broken lower jaw bone, a protruding upper jaw bone, several wounds on his head, severe damage to both eyes and a tongue that was red, swollen and hanging out of his mouth.
Teddy was slowly nursed back to health by conservation officials, but his tongue was so badly damaged that it had to be amputated. His injuries also resulted in blindness in one eye and partial blindness in the other. Initially he had to be force-fed as he did not know how to catch food without his tongue, but he quickly learned to grab prey and now feeds on his own.
Teddy cannot be released back into the wild, but will remain at the Two Oceans Aquarium as an ambassador for his species. Toads face great danger from cars and people and many are killed or fatally injured. We plead with every person reading this story to take care when driving and watch out for toads and frogs on the roads! The future of frogs is in our hands!
This is a temporary exhibit. It is not easy to keep frogs in captivity as they are easily infected with disease and parasites. Although it is not policy, CapeNature has given the Aquarium special permission to display these frogs in recognition of the Year of the Frog.
Northern rockhopper penguin
Rockhopper penguins are the smallest of the crested penguin species. They live on rocky, inaccessible coasts and are renowned for their jumping ability.
Anemones
Anemones are simple animals that look like delicate flowers. But these “flowers” can move and catch prey.
Anemones have poisonous barbs in their tentacles that fire on contact, injecting poison into their prey.
To protect themselves, anemones secrete a special slime that prevents the stinging cells on one tentacle from firing when they come into contact with other tentacles or with the anemone’s body.
Common octopus
According to Two Oceans: A guide to the Marine Life of Southern Africa (Struik, 2007), the common octopus lives at depths of up to 200m and feeds on crabs, shellfish and rock lobsters. It lives in crevices and holes and is fiercely territorial.
Longnose butterflyfish
The longnose butterflyfish is easily recognised by its yellow body and black and white head, but its most remarkable feature is its long snout. It uses this long snout to probe crevasses for food particles and prey, and to bite the tube feet off of sea urchins and other echinoderms. The longnose butterflyfish is the most widespread species of butterflyfish. It lives in pairs along rocky shores and reefs along the southern African coast. It is a common visitor to deep reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is highly territorial, and will defend its patch of coral from any other longnose butterflyfish of the same sex. This butterflyfish uses soundwaves, generated by body movements, to signal its territorial boundaries to other fish. The IUCN classification for this species is Least Concern with stable populationsPearly butterflyfish
Pearly butterflyfish have very distinct colouration - silver-white bodies, yellow hindquarters and black chevron stripes pointing towards their heads.They inhabit sea-facing reefs off the east coast of Southern Africa, where they hunt small invertebrates and scavenge scraps of seaweed.The IUCN status is Least Concern.Giant kob
Giant kob (previously known as dusky kob) are found in estuaries and on rocky reefs and sandy bottoms from southern Mozambique to False Bay. They are also found off the coasts of Australia, Japan, Pakistan and India.
Pyjama catshark
This shark is called a pyjama shark because it looks like it’s wearing striped pyjamas.
Semicircle angelfish
The semicircle angelfish is a narrow, oblong fish with a greenish-yellow or yellow-brown body covered in dark blue spots everywhere excepts its face and pectoral fins. It has a vivid blue margin on its fins, gill covers and eye. Juveniles are black with white, semi-circular lines radiating out from its tail - and from this pattern it gets its name. In adult semicircle angelfish, both the dorsal and anal fins are tailed by bright blue or yellow filaments.Semicircle angelfish are solitary, inhabiting coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They hunt various small zooplankton. Juveniles are found in rock pools and in the waters of the Agulhas current.Red stumpnose
Red stumpnose are endemic off South Africa and occur from False Bay to Margate, although they are more common south of East London.
They have steep foreheads which, in males, become increasingly pronounced and bulbous as they get older. They have strong molars which they use to crush prey such as redbait, urchins, octopuses and crabs.
Although red stumpnose are good to eat, they have been over-exploited. Presently they may only be caught once they have reached a minimum size of 30cm and anglers may only catch one fish per person per day.
Red stumpnose are currently listed as a Red species on SASSI’s Customer Seafood List, which means you should not buy or sell these fish as seafood.
Photograph by Dagny Warmerdam.
Sand steenbras
These fish use camouflage to mimic the ripple patterns in the sand caused by currents and tides.
They feed mainly on bottom-dwelling animals e.g. cracker shrimps, sea lice and molluscs.
Roman
Romans are an endemic species found on rocky reefs off southern Africa at depths from 5m to 100m.
Like other sea breams, the roman has the ability to change sex, in this instance from female to male.
The male attracts a harem of females, with which he will mate. A large male is very aggressive and will defend his harem and territory against all intruders, including competitive males.
His frantic protective behaviour attracts the attention of predators, which increases his risk of being eaten.
Should this happen, the dominant female will immediately take over his role. Sex change takes a little longer.