Found one in the park when i was very little. Figured it out it was a male by just looking at its vent xd. It was squishy and slimy, like a snail.
It’s not a fish but...
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Forgot to hit post reply last night.
An animal is venomous if it has a delivery system in which the toxin is delivered directly into the body of the prey or predatory animal. So snakes and spiders have fangs, bees and other inverts have a stinger, there are grooves in a shrew's teeth, and a lot of fish (stonefish, scorpion fish, some catfish, etc.) have spines that deliver the toxin directly into the body of the prey or predatory animal.
A poisonous animal, on the other hand, does not have a delivery system and the toxin is delivered passively when a predator ingests or touches the poisonous animal. So dart frogs and a quite a few other amphibians, pufferfish, a lot of caterpillars and insects, and I'm sure others that just aren't coming to mind right now, are poisonous.
I'm not sure where animals like skunks and some insects that spray their toxin fall. They have a delivery system but don't inject it into the body. And yes, skunk spray is toxic to humans at very high concentrations.
The toxin of a poisonous animal doesn't have to be fatal, and often isn't. It just has to make the predatory animal sick and invoke an avoidance response so the predator avoids individuals of that species in the future. Toxins of venomous species, however, are often (but not always) used to immobilize or kill prey animals as well as for defense, and therefore are more likely to be deadly. Snakes, spiders, and scorpions use their venom for hunting, but the spines of most fish are purely defensive. Batesian mimicry is when a harmless species mimics the appearance of a dangerous species so that it benefits from the avoidance response the dangerous species elicits. It's common in invertebrates but not so much in vertebrates. There are examples among butterflies, bees, flies and who knows how many other invertebrates. One well known example among vertebrates is non-venomous kingsnakes mimicking venomous coral snakes. I'm sure a lot of us have heard the rhyme, "Red touch yellow, kill a fellow," to discern between the two. That only works in North American species, though.
So I don't think there is any amphibian that has a mechanism to deliver the toxin directly, so they are poisonous. And not all amphibians are poisonous, so you probably have absolutely nothing to worry about.
WYite
I think a spray type delivery would fall under poison since the toxin is sprayed into the eyes, nose and mouth, usually, it’s the same effect as touching or eating a poisonous animal. It’s my understanding than venom isn’t dangerous if ingested either, could be wrong but I think I read, for example that rattle snake venom won’t be harmful if it’s consumed, it’s only harmful if injected into the bloodstream.
I'm leaning that way as well. I'm just too lazy today to google it. I'm pretty sure some venoms are toxic if swallowed, but it's a secondary, incidental side-effect rather than actually serving a functional purpose. And then there are critters that become poisonous due to contamination rather than due to a specific, natural physiological function, such as fish with ciguetara poisoning. These animals technically aren't poisonous by definition.
WYite
There's a little diddy I've heard that helps distinguish the difference.
If it bites you and you die, it's venomous.
If you bite it and you die, it's poisonous.
Snort! You're so funny Wyite.
I tend to go with when in any doubt don't touch (or ingest) mystery animals, plants or fungi. I'm not prone to either behavior, lol. Gardening in a newish state & climate can be a bit more than fun. Weeding early on I discovered I'm quite allergic to a common weed plant here, scorpions may live in the soil, black widows are shy but pretty & alligator lizards & skunks don't back down easily...Gloves are my answer to some but not all "perils", better safe than really sorry.
I tend to go with when in any doubt don't touch (or ingest) mystery animals, plants or fungi. I'm not prone to either behavior, lol. Gardening in a newish state & climate can be a bit more than fun. Weeding early on I discovered I'm quite allergic to a common weed plant here, scorpions may live in the soil, black widows are shy but pretty & alligator lizards & skunks don't back down easily...Gloves are my answer to some but not all "perils", better safe than really sorry.
I don't like spiders and snakes, but that ain't what it takes to scare me.
Nor scorpions, skunks, rabid gophers, or berserking badgers, lol. But one little earth worm and I'll spring back 20 feet and squeal like a little girl. Yeeeech, earth worms just give me the shivers and terrify me, lol. That's why my fish never, ever get to enjoy chopped worm in their diet. I know there's no logic to it. But worms touch that primal fear hidden deep in the amygdala, a remnant from an age when worms devoured sabretooths and mammoths like popcorn and chased our screaming ancestors from their cozy caves, fireless into the cold, dark primeval night. When it comes to earthworms, I have no fight reflex, it's all flight in a cloud of dust like the Roadrunner.WYite
LOL, I don't hate all spiders, I try to live & let live & move them outdoors...but if I'm naked in the shower without my glasses, they are dead!...maybe with some embarrassing girly squealing or swearing, but not often...I try to look before I leap
