Painted Frogfish

Photo: Marine Explorer (Dr John Turnbull) · CC BY-NC-SA

Masters of camouflage, frogfish sit motionless on encrusted hull sections mimicking sponges and coral, luring prey with a modified dorsal spine tipped with a fleshy lure. They are capable of engulfing fish almost their own size in a strike lasting under six milliseconds, one of the fastest feeding actions in the animal kingdom. Abu Dhabi wreck divers regularly log multiple individuals on a single dive of the Mercury, as the stabilised hull provides ideal ambush substrate.