The frogfish (or anglerfish, angler, fishing frog) is one of my favorite fishes so this website is dedicated entirely to this family of fishes (Antennariidae). Frogfishes are fascinating animals. They sit well camouflaged and without moving on sponges, wait in front of holes or hide between corals and wait for their prey to approach. One of its dorsal spine is converted into a lure (illicium) with a bait (esca) which looks like a small fish, a worm or a shrimp. This lure is dangled, flicked and moved around in front of the Frogfishs head. If a fish wants to catch this make-believe prey it becomes prey itself - fast as lightning the Frogfish greatly expands its oral cavity thus creating suction pressure inside the mouth and engulfs the animal. This behavior is called aggressive mimicry. With this kind of luring behavior the frogfish is a very succesfull predator. Although like a lot of divers I have started to use the nickname Froggie of course the frogfish is not exactly a cuddly animal - actually it is not very likable - but but how it looks and its behavior is very interesting! (frogfish.ch, 2015).
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 16:51:37 +0000
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