Our Resident Frogfish

Our resident frogfish has changed colors… Up until now this nifty little guy has been a purplish-white but just yesterday we discovered that he has turned yellow… one of the many color changes he will go though in his life…

Frogfish are interesting and strange little creatures. Without any teeth, they have powerful suction to engulf their meal whole to be processed by their digestive system. Their diet consists of crustaceans and fish… including other frogfish. Which makes these odd creatures cannibals.

Frogfish also don’t swim, they “walk” on twos and fours! They have developed leg-like fins with webbed feet. Instead of swishing tails and fins to move about, they propel themselves through the water by forcing water out through their gill holes just under or behind their pectoral fins creating and awkward and amusing thrusting movement.

Frogfish are generally found in tropic and sub-tropic areas. Some live in shallow waters up to 75 meters in depth while deep sea cousins live in 300 to 4000 meters. Since frogfish are not migratory, you can go back and visit them over a period of months or years and watch as they grow and change. This makes them a divers best friend, odd, photogenic and always changing but sedentary! These little guys are extremely difficult to spot, but once you have found one, he is reliably present on every dive!