Frogfish
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frogfish"
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Frogfish
Striated frogfish, Antennarius striatus
Striated frogfish, Antennarius striatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Lophiiformes
Family: Antennariidae
Genera

Allenichthys
Antennarius
Antennatus
Echinophryne
Histiophryne
Histrio
Kuiterichthys
Lophiocharon
Nudiantennarius
Phyllophryne
Rhycherus
Tathicarpus
See text for species.

Frogfish are a family, Antennariidae, of anglerfish. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans and seas around the world.[1]

They are small fish with large globose heads. They can be distinguished from other anglerfish by the three extended dorsal fin spines on their heads. They are mostly benthic fishes that are well camouflaged; the first dorsal spine is modified as a fishing lure to attract prey. The lure consists of the illicium (the spine) and the esca (the bait).

The sargassumfish, Histrio histrio, is unique among frogfish in that it is endemic to and clings on floating Sargassum weed.[2]

Contents

Species

There are 45 species in twelve genera:

josh weiss frogfish The frogfish is known to have the fastest movement in the animal kingdom with a bite that has been photographed at high speed to take only 1/6000 of a second.

Gallery

External links

References

  1. ^ "Antennariidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. February 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
  2. ^ Theodore W. Pietsch (2005). Antennariidae. Tree of Life web project. Retrieved on 4 April 2006.
  • Pietsch and Grobecker, 1987. Frogfishes of the World. Stanford University Press.

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