Frogfish and Dragonets Codexery

Antennarius indicus

Indian Ocean frogfish with a leaf-like lure and ocelli markings.

Last updated

Antennarius indicus

Ferosekhan · via Wikipedia: Antennarius indicus · CC BY 3.0

It belongs to the Antennarius striatus species group within the genus Antennarius.[1][2]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderLophiiformes
  6. FamilyAntennariidae
  7. GenusAntennarius
  8. SpeciesAntennarius indicus

Named by Schultz, 1964

Close relatives

Other species of Antennarius with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Antennarius indicus (CC BY-SA 4.0) · order, family and genus agree with WoRMS AphiaID 217841 (CC BY 4.0)

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

  1. LC▲ this species
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2022

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

How big is it?

Size comparison: Antennarius indicus and a personA 0.23 m long antennarius indicus drawn to scale next to a 1.8 m tall person. Schematic shapes, not a likeness.0.23 m1.8 m

Largest length in the source, 0.23 m, next to a 1.8 m person.

Diagram: drawn by Codexery, schematic shapes to scale (not a likeness). Length: Wikipedia: Antennarius indicus

Biology and range

It also occurs around the Seychelles and Lakshadweep.[3] The frogfish has an illicium roughly equal in length to the second dorsal spine.[4] Its esca, or lure, is made up of leaf-like appendages.[4] In life, the body color is tawny to brown with dark brown to black bars on the fins.[5]

There are 2 or 3 obvious pale-margined ocelli on the body.[5] The frogfish.ch account notes that this species is only known from a relatively small area in the western Indian Ocean.[2] The distribution of the Indian frogfish covers the western Indian Ocean, extending from the Gulf of Aden south to northern Mozambique, and eastward to southeastern India and Sri Lanka.[3] Counts of fin rays show 12 soft rays in the dorsal fin and 7 soft rays in the anal fin.[4]

The greatest total length recorded for this species in published literature is 23 cm.[5]

What the specialist sources record

The frogfish.ch website states that Antennarius indicus looks quite similar to Antennarius striatus.[2] It also notes that online searches often show images of A. striatus that are actually A. indicus.[2] The same source gives a size of 19 cm for this species.[2] The GBIF database lists 48 occurrence records for Antennarius indicus as of October 2026.[6]

The ETYFish Project explains that the genus name Antennarius alludes to the first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle used as a lure.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Antennarius indicus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; "Antennarius indicus", www.frogfish.ch; "Fishes of the World", John Wiley & Sons, 2016, p. 508–518 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  2. "Antennarius indicus", www.frogfish.ch. facts only, no text reused. frogfish.ch
  3. Wikipedia, "Antennarius indicus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pietsch, T., "Antennarius indicus", 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Antennarius indicus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Antennarius indicus", www.frogfish.ch (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Antennarius indicus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Theodore W Pietsch, "Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean", South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, 2022, p. 281–307; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and occurrence index, Antennarius indicus (taxon key 5214794). CC BY 4.0 (backbone); counts are facts. gbif.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Antennarius indicus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Christopher Scharpf, "Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 1): Families LOPHIIDAE, ANTENNARIIDAE, TETRABRACHIIDAE, LOPHICHTHYIDAE, BRACHIONICHTHYIDAE, CHAUNACIDAE and OGCOCEPHALIDAE", The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Antennarius indicus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Same family (Antennariidae)

Abantennarius nummifer Abantennarius nummifer

Named in this entry

Actinopterygii

More in Frogfish

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Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. To which biological order does the Antennarius indicus belong?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Lophiiformes.

2. In what year was Antennarius indicus first scientifically described?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1964.

3. Who first scientifically described the Antennarius indicus?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Leonard Peter Schultz.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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