Commerson’s Frogfish

Antennarius commerson – Giant frogfish (Commerson’s frogfish)

This is Commerson’s frogfish aka the giant frogfish (Antennarius commerson).  It is a voracious carnivore which attacks anything small enough to be prey (which is pretty much anything smaller than itself–since the fish has an extremely extensible body).  Commerson’s frogfish is a chameleon—it can change color to resemble the tropical sponges of its native habitat –yellow, red, orange, gray, or black, with all sorts of stripes and splotches (though the creature seems to betray a predilection for yellow).

Giant frogfish, (Antennarius commerson) photo by Rokus Groeneveld

Giant frogfish, Antennarius commerson
(photo by “Hole in the wall”)

The frogfish is an anglerfish and its front dorsal spine is tipped with a pinkish shrimplike lure (a feature known to biology as an esca).  The fish lives in tropical and semi-tropical water of the Indo-Pacific (an eco-region which comes up repeatedly in this blog).  Despite being known in English as the giant frogfish, Antennarius commerson only grown to 38 cm (15 inches) in maximum length which demonstrates that horror is relative (and that frogfish are not large from a human perspective).  Although it is not classically beautiful by any stretch of the imagination, there is something oddly charming about its grumpy expression.  I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I do!

Antennarius commerson – Giant frogfish (Commerson’s frogfish)
Copyright Teresa Zubi

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