Hairy frogfish
Antennarius striatus
Sighting evidence at Hairy Frogfish Ridge
Photo: Richard Ling · CC BY-NC-ND
Hairy frogfish are among the ocean's most accomplished ambush predators, deploying a lure — the illicium — above their mouth to attract prey within striking distance, then engulfing victims in a strike lasting under six milliseconds, one of the fastest predatory strikes of any vertebrate. Their extraordinary skin appendages, which resemble alga or hydroids, provide camouflage so precise that the fish is essentially invisible against matching substrate. Multiple colour morphs exist within a single species; an individual can change colour over weeks to match a new microhabitat. Ambon Bay is the most reliable site on earth for multiple hairy frogfish encounters on a single dive.
Evidence at this site
No confirmed records on file at this site
Hairy frogfish is listed as a curated species here based on historical reports.