Frogfish and Dragonets Codexery

Frogfish

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Frogfish

Christian Gloor from Wakatobi Dive Resort, Indonesia · via Wikipedia: Frogfish · CC BY 2.0

Frogfishes are stocky, scaleless fish with a globose body and an upward-pointed mouth.[1][2] They use a modified dorsal spine as a lure to attract prey.[3][4]

Scientific classification

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumChordata
  3. ClassActinopterygii
  4. DivisionTeleostei
  5. OrderLophiiformes
  6. FamilyAntennariidae

Named by Jarocki, 1822

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Frogfish (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Last updated 2026-10-08 from the source article.

Biology and range

Frogfishes range in size from 2.5 to 38 cm long and have between 18 and 23 vertebrae.[1] Their first dorsal fin consists of three separate spines, the first being the illicium topped with the esca or lure.[5][4] The esca can take different forms, mimicking fish, shrimp, or worms, and can be regenerated if lost.[4][6] Many frogfishes can change color over days or weeks, shifting between light yellows and dark greens or blacks.[2][7]

They typically lie motionless on the sea floor and use their pectoral and pelvic fins to walk slowly.[8] When prey approaches, they open their jaws suddenly, enlarging the mouth cavity up to 12-fold and sucking in the prey in as little as 6 milliseconds.[9][6] Frogfishes are found in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Red Sea, with their habitat mostly lying between the 20 °C isotherms where surface water temperatures are 20 °C or more.[10] The Indo-Pacific region, particularly around Indonesia, contains the highest concentration of frogfish species.[10]

What the specialist sources record

The Tree of Life Web Project describes frogfishes as small, globose anglerfishes with three well-developed dorsal spines and a short, laterally compressed body.[2] Color and pattern are highly variable, with individuals able to assume two extremes over days or weeks.[2] The Florida Museum of Natural History account states that the striated frogfish feeds on crustaceans and benthic fishes, including invasive lionfish.[11] That account also reports that the striated frogfish's eggs are encapsulated in a buoyant mucus "egg raft"[11]

The Dive the World guide notes that frogfish are found throughout tropical and subtropical waters and that recreational divers in Asia most often see giant, clown, and painted frogfish.[12] Moray eels have been witnessed eating frogfish, though this is uncommon.[12]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bray, "Family ANTENNARIIDAE", Fishes of Australia (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Antennariidae: Frogfishes Tree of Life Web Project. facts only, no text reused. tolweb.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (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 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Diving with Frogfish Dive the World 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Fishes of the World", John Wiley & Sons, 2016, p. 508–518 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frogfish Factsheet Shedd Aquarium Explore by Animal 2009 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Antennariidae: Frogfishes Tree of Life Web Project (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frogfish Factsheet Shedd Aquarium Explore by Animal 2009; "Encyclopedia of Fishes", Academic Press, 1998, p. 138–139; Bray, "Family ANTENNARIIDAE", Fishes of Australia (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frogfish Factsheet Shedd Aquarium Explore by Animal 2009; Striated Frogfish Florida Museum of Natural History (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Frogfish" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Antennariidae: Frogfishes Tree of Life Web Project; (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Striated Frogfish Florida Museum of Natural History. facts only, no text reused. floridamuseum.ufl.edu
  12. Diving with Frogfish Dive the World 2009. facts only, no text reused. dive-the-world.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Frogfish (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.

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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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