Painted Frogfish

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

Multiple frogfish in a range of colors — yellow, orange, brown, and mottled — are resident at Pelado's rubble zones, where their extraordinary camouflage makes finding them a genuine puzzle. They use a modified dorsal spine tipped with a lure to ambush small fish and shrimp, striking at speeds too fast for the human eye to follow. Local dive guides who know individual animals' locations make repeated sightings possible across multiple visits.