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Tooth Toads — Description
A group of tooth toads at the edge of a river somewhere in western Orientalis, on the planet Cerulea.

Tooth toads are a group of amphibian analogues and the least diverse and numerous of the four "classes" of Cerulean terrestrial vertebrates. Today their range is restricted to rivers and lakes in central-western to south-western Orientalis and also in the Fire Islands that lie south of the planet's two continents. The fossil record shows that tooth toads did once live in Occidentalis as well, though why they died out there is not entirely clear.

While the most basal of Cerulea's terrestrial vertebrates are technically the sky rays, as they split off from the others first, the terrestrial vertebrates that have retained the most archaic features are the tooth toads. Like the earliest Cerulean terrestrial vertebrates they have skin that needs to be kept moist and their females lay eggs in the water. The eggs have a greater density than water and thus will sink to the bottom. Neither parent cares for the eggs, but the mother will cover them with a bit of silt or mud to reduce the chances of the eggs being found by hungry fish, shield eels or scuttlers.

One more derived feature of the tooth toads is that they have lost their tails. Aside from that their anatomy is fairly archaic. They have retained the original four digit hands and feet of the early terrestrial vertebrates (the four digit design is also retained in sky rays, but the thorn heads and chitinopilosans have three digits). There is webbing between the digits to help with swimming. When on land, tooth toads tend to move in a sort of knuckle walking locomotion, though they can also walk on their hind legs a bit.

While not very social animals, tooth toads are not entirely solitary either. One will normally find them hanging out in groups of about three or four.

The name "tooth toad" comes from the fact that they look a bit like some sort of odd toads with teeth full of sharp teeth. The tooth toads are all obligate carnivores and feed primarily on small fish. Though their lipless sharp-toothed mouth can give them a somewhat sinister appearance their small size (even the largest don't exceed 35 cm in height when standing on their hind legs) and timid nature make them quite harmless. Which is not to say they won't bite if they feel threatened.

Just recently there was a news story of some young man in south-west Orientalis who went to the local medical clinic for an injury to the finger of his left hand inflicted by a tooth toad. Apparently he had caught it and put his finger in its mouth as part of a dare, with predictable results. The lacerations on his finger were easy enough to treat, but unfortunately medical science has not, and probably never will, come up with any treatment for stupidity.