Frogfish

Also called Anglerfish.

COOL FACTS:

1) Find this fish’s eye and mouth. See the blue thing sticking up in the air with the worm-like end? That’s a bone coming out of his nose. It’s a fishing pole with a worm-lure on the end. He dangles is over his mouth to attract prey.

2) He is said to be capable of swallowing prey larger than himself. His mouth can expand to 12 times his size which creates a huge suction.

3) This happens in 6 thousandths of a second, faster than the eye can see.

by Tom Weilenmann

This is a moaning frogfish so his mouth stayed open long enough to get the shot.

By Tom Weilenmann

This guy looks like he has leaves growing out of his skin and his lure looks like a branch.

By Spamily

You can get a sense of how frogfish use their fins like feet to bounce along the bottom of the ocean.

Check the size of this red male hairy frogfish and his lovely golden mate. She is ready to lay eggs and attracts the male by releasing pheromones.

This is a Psychedelic frogfish, discovered in 2008. This frogfish doesn’t have a lure.

Like other frogfish, this one appears to bounce on the ocean floor like a rubber ball. It moves by a method similar to “jet propulsion”, forcefully expelling swallowed water through small, rear-facing gill openings. When moving in this way, the psychedelic frogfish tends to contort its body into a ball-like shape. This, combined with an off-center tail, causes it to bounce around in a bizarre and chaotic manner.

Be sure to check out David Hall’s website: www.seaphotos.com for many wondrous pictures, including many on this site.

1 thought on “Frogfish”

Leave a Reply