American Toad
Here's an American Toad I met a couple months ago. Or at least I'm pretty sure it's an American Toad. Despite providing what looks like a pretty clear picture of the toad, nobody on iNaturalist has confirmed (or refuted) my contention that this is an American Toad. The only other contender in NJ for an ID is the Fowler's Toad . While I have better head shots of this toad, the view below is probably the one that best distinguishes its species. First I need to tell you what the parotoid glands are. These are the pair of light-colored bulges above the shoulders and behind the eyes. Overall they're probably a little smaller but longer than the toad's eyes. They store toxins that the toad can secrete to make themselves bad-tasting and somewhat poisonous. (They might be the reason we humans don't often eat toads.) Though both species of toad has parotoid glands, in the American Toad the glands do not touch the ridges behind the toad's eyes. And it looks to m...