Striated frogfish

Art

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today

sand boxes

Animal

photo by Jens Petersen

The striated frogfish (Antennarius striatus) is a very widely distributed fish that can be found in coastal tropical waters in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Like deep sea anglerfish they to have a modified fin on their head with a lure called an illicium, though their lure looks more like a worm and does not produce light. They have the one of the fastest feeding mechanisms known in vertebrates, it is so fast it can not be seen with the human eye. They also have an extendable stomach that allows them to handle strangely large prey. They also walk along the bottom on somewhat leg-like fins. When threatened they can inflate like a pufferfish to become difficult to swallow.

Here is a video of two of them walking also the ocean floor wiggling their illicium

The smaller one is probably a male