 Originally , the cane toads were used to eradicate pests from sugarcane , giving rise to their common name . The cane toad has many other common names , including " giant toad " and " marine toad " ; the former refers to its size and the latter to the binomial name , R. marina . It was one of many species described by Linnaeus in his 18th @-@ century work Systema Naturae ( 1758 ) . Linnaeus based the specific epithet marina on an illustration by Dutch zoologist Albertus Seba , who mistakenly believed the cane toad to inhabit both terrestrial and marine environments . Other common names include " giant neotropical toad " , " Dominican toad " , " giant marine toad " , and " South American cane toad " . In Trinidadian English , they are commonly called crapaud , the French word for toad . 
