Painted frogfish

Painted Frogfish (Antennarius pictus)

The Painted Frogfish (Antennarius pictus ), also called Rundflecken frogfish is, with a maximum length of 30 centimeters, a relatively large representative of the angler fish ( Antennariidae ). He, together with Commerson's frogfish, the Warty Frogfish, the frequent Frogfish and the leopard frog fish, a group of closely related species.

Features

The Painted frogfish is of yellow, red, green, gray or black. In black copies the fins have blue-gray edges, the tips of the thoracic and pelvic fins are white. The Angel ( Illicium ) is twice as long as the second ray of the dorsal fin. Young Painted frogfish mimic with their drawing toxic nudibranchs snails.

Dissemination

The fish live in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific, from eastern and southern Africa to Japan, Lord Howe Island and Hawaii. You will stay in shallow water, at depths ranging from one to fifty meters, on sandy bottom of lagoons between coral reefs. Painted frogfish are found usually near sponges, rare in corals or algae tufts.