The bay’s puffer fish are a little-known treat
Northern puffer fish, often referred to as “swell toads”, “sugar toads” or “terns”, are one of the most fascinating fish of the Chesapeake. Reaching from Florida to Newfoundland, these 8 to 10-inch box-shaped fish with emerald eyes make their way into the Chesapeake waters in early spring as they prepare to spawn around hard structures in the shallows of the middle and lower bays. In the local waters, toads hang around until early to mid-November, when the temperature drops below 50 degrees. They feed on crustaceans and shellfish by crushing the shells with their strong, beak-like teeth. Coarse skin, like coarse-grained sandpaper, is the fish’s armor against predators, but when toads feel threatened, they use their most distinctive defense – they inflate themselves with water or air, making them too big to eat whole. Aquarians in Chesapeake Bay target northern pufferfish or swelling toads by setting up “toad pots” baited with crab scraps near oyster reefs, shipwrecks and other underwater structures where the fish congregate. Toad pots are similar to traditional hard crab pots, with a smaller wire mesh. Since puffy toads may eventually find their way out of the funnels of a pot, aquarists must fish their pots all day without letting them “soak” or sitting for long periods of time. As soon as a toad pot is pulled to the surface, the frightened creatures inflate themselves with air. Sometimes even a pot full of toads can float on the surface. Sugar toads are also a bycatch for pound netters and seiners in the middle and lower Chesapeake. Recreational fishermen using bait such as peeler crabs or mosquito larvae occasionally catch toads.
Aquarians in Chesapeake Bay target northern puffer fish by planting “toad pots”
near underwater structures.
After World War II, aquarists perfected the art of catching the cunning, swelling toads in potato peelers. Toads were abundant and fishing was lucrative for many mermen. Several packing houses in Crisfield, Maryland diversified their operations from processing crab meat from April to November to include the popular delicacy. However, by the mid-1960s, the toads became scarcer and in 1964 the processing houses gave up their efforts. Large-scale fishing is a thing of the past and has never come back.
In contrast to other puffer fish species, the northern puffer fish is non-poisonous and safe for human consumption. Aquarians process the toads for commercial sale by removing the sandpaper-like skin and head, leaving behind the flesh and bones of the tail portion. Although the process is tedious, cleaned toad tails fetch a higher price per pound when compared to other fish commercially caught in the Chesapeake Bay. The meat in the tail part is sweet and tender. Tails are usually fried whole and eaten off the bone like a chicken wing, hence another of their many nicknames, “Chicken of the Sea”.
Roasted sugar toads will occasionally appear on the seasonal menus of high-end restaurants in Baltimore, Washington DC, and Richmond, but the most persistent place to find them during the summer months is the Exmore Diner on the east coast of Virginia. This hidden gem of a restaurant employs local mermen to catch the seasonal delicacy. In the years of plenty, toads will cause a stir among those waiting for this Chesapeake delicacy.