Frogfish
Frogfish | |
---|---|
Striated frogfish, Antennarius striatus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Lophiiformes |
Suborder: | Antennarioidei |
Family: | Antennariidae Jarocki, 1822[1] |
Genera | |
see text |
Frogfishes are any member of the
Frogfishes are small, short and stocky, and sometimes covered in
Few traces of frogfishes remain in the fossil record, though Antennarius monodi is known from the Miocene of Algeria and Eophryne barbuttii is known from the Eocene of Italy.
Taxonomy
The frogfish family, Antennariidae, was first proposed as a family in 1822 by the Polish
Etymology
The frogfish family, Antennariidae, has its name derived from Antennarius, its type genus. Antennarius suffixes -ius to antenna, an allusion to first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle on the snout used as a lure to attract prey.[6]
Genera
The frogfish family, Antennariidae is divided into the following genera:[7][8]
- Abantennarius Schultz, 1957
- Antennarius Daudin, 1816
- Antennatus Schultz, 1957
- Fowlerichthys Barbour, 1941
- Histrio Fischer, 1813
- Nudiantennarius Schultz, 1957
The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies another seven genera within the Antennariidae:[2]
- Allenichthys Pietsch, 1984
- Echinophryne McCulloch & Waite, 1918
- Histiophryne Gill, 1863
- Kuiterichthys Pietsch, 1984
- Lophiocharon Whitley, 1933
- Phyllophryne Pietsch, 1984
- Porophryne Arnold, Harcourt & Pietsch, 2014
- Rhycherus Ogilby, 1907
- TathicarpusOgilby, 1907
However,
Range
Frogfishes live in the
A few exceptions to these general limits are known. The
Features
Frogfishes have a stocky appearance, atypical of fish. Ranging from 2.5–38 cm (0.98–14.96 in) long, their plump, high-backed, unstreamlined body is scaleless and bare, often covered with bumpy, bifurcated spinules.
Rather than typical
Frogfish have small, round gill openings behind their
Mimicry and camouflage
The unusual appearance of the frogfish functions to conceal it from predators and sometimes to mimic a potential meal to lure it in. In
For the scaleless and unprotected frogfish, camouflage is an important defense against predators. Some species can also inflate themselves, like
Many frogfishes can change their colour.[10] The light colours are generally yellows or yellow-browns, while the darker are green, black, or dark red. They usually appear with the lighter color, but the change can last from a few days to several weeks. What triggers the change is unknown.[10]
Movement
Frogfishes generally do not move very much, preferring to lie on the sea floor and wait for prey to approach. Once the prey is spotted, they can approach slowly using their pectoral and pelvic fins to walk along the floor.[16][18] They rarely swim, preferring to clamber over the sea bottom with their fins in one of two "gaits".[14] In the first, they alternately move their pectoral fins forward, propelling themselves somewhat like a two-legged tetrapod, leaving the pelvic fins out. Alternately, they can move in something like a slow gallop, whereby they move their pectoral fins simultaneously forward and back, transferring their weight to the pelvic fins while moving the pectorals forward. With either gait, they can cover only short stretches.
In open water, frogfishes can swim with strokes of the caudal fin. They also use jet propulsion, often used by younger frogfish. It is achieved by rhythmically gulping water and forcing it out through their gill openings, also called opercular openings, which lie behind their pectoral fins.[18]
The sargassum frogfish has adapted fins which can grab strands of sargassum, enabling it to "climb" through the seaweed.[10]
Hunting
Frogfishes eat
Slow-motion filming has shown that the frogfish sucks in its prey in just six milliseconds, so fast that other animals cannot see it happen.[16]
Reproduction
The reproductive behavior of the normally solitary frogfish is still not fully researched. Few observations in aquaria and even fewer from the wild have been made. Most species are free-spawning, with females laying the eggs in the water and males coming in behind to fertilize them. From eight hours to several days before the egg-laying, the abdomen of the female starts to swell as up to 180,000 eggs absorb water.[15] The male begins to approach the female around two days before the spawning. Whether the spawn is predetermined by some external factor, such as the phase of the moon, or if the male is attracted to a smell or signal released by the female, is unknown. In all hitherto observed breeding pairs, one partner was noticeably larger than the other, sometimes as much as 10 times. When the gender could be determined, the larger partner was always the female.
During the free-spawning courtship ritual, the male swims beside and somewhat behind the female, nudges her with his mouth, then remains near her
The eggs are 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) in diameter and cohere in a gelatinous mass or long ribbon, which in sargassumfish are up to a metre (3.3 ft) long and 16 cm (6.5 in) wide. These egg masses can include up to 180,000 eggs.[15][21] For most species, the eggs drift on the surface. After two to five days, the fish hatch and the newly hatched alevin are between 0.8 and 1.6 mm (0.031 and 0.063 in) long. For the first few days, they live on the yolk sac while their digestive systems continue to develop. The young have long fin filaments and can resemble tiny, tentacled jellyfish. For one to two months, they live planktonically. After this stage, at a length between 15 and 28 mm (0.59 and 1.10 in), they have the form of adult frogfish and begin their lives on the sea floor. Young frogfish often mimic the coloration of poisonous sea slugs or flatworms.
Fossil record
Very few fossil remains of frogfishes have been found. In the northern Italian formation at Monte Bolca, formed from the sedimentation of the Tethys Ocean in the middle Eocene (45 million years ago), a 3-cm (1.2 in) fossil named Histionotophorus bassani was initially described as a frogfish, but was later thought to belong to the closely related extant genus Brachionichthys or handfish. In 2005, a fossil from Miocene Algeria (3 to 23 million years ago), Antennarius monodi, is the first proven fossil frogfish, believed to be most closely related to the extant Senegalese frogfish.[22] In 2009, a new fossil from the upper Ypresian Stage of the early Eocene found in Monte Bolca, Italy was described as a new species, Eophryne barbuttii, and is the oldest known member of the family.[23]
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Kona, Hawaii, Antennarius commerson
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St. Kitts, F. ocellatus
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Longlure frogfish, Bonaire, A. multiocellatus
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Scarlet frogfish, A. coccineus
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Painted frogfish, A. pictus
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Warty frogfish, A. maculatus
References
- ^ PMID 25543675.
- ^ OL 25909650M.
- ^ .
- ^ a b Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Histiophrynidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
- PMID 20178642.
- ^ Christopher Scharpf (14 November 2022). "Order LOPHIIFORMES (part 1): Families LOPHIIDAE, ANTENNARIIDAE, TETRABRACHIIDAE, LOPHICHTHYIDAE, BRACHIONICHTHYIDAE, CHAUNACIDAE and OGCOCEPHALIDAE". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 23 March 2024.
- ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2024). "Antennariidae" in FishBase. February 2024 version.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Antennariidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
- ^ Shedlock, A.M.; Pietsch, T.W.; Haygood, M.G.; Bentzen, P.; Hasegawa, M. (2004). "Molecular systematics and life history evolution of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): evidence from mitochondrial DNA". Steenstrupia. 28: 129–144.
- ^ a b c d e Antennariidae: Frogfishes Tree of Life Web Project
- ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). "Antennariidae" in FishBase. April 2006 version.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2009). "{{{1}}} biocellatus" in FishBase. Sep 2009 version.
- ^ a b Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2009). "Histrio histrio" in FishBase. Sep 2009 version.
- ^ a b Bray, Dianne. "Family ANTENNARIIDAE". Fishes of Australia. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ^ a b c d Diving with Frogfish Dive the World 2009
- ^ a b c d e f Frogfish Factsheet Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine Shedd Aquarium Explore by Animal 2009
- ^ Lloyd, Robin Crawling fish accepted as new species NBC News
- ^ ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ Striated Frogfish Florida Museum of Natural History
- ISBN 9780804712637.
- ^ Frogfish spawn on Valentine's Day[permanent dead link] National Sea Life Center, Birmingham
- ^ G. Carnevale1 & T.W. Pietsch: Filling the gap: a fossil frogfish, genus Antennarius (Teleostei, Lophiiformes, Antennariidae), from the Miocene of Algeria Abstract[dead link]
- ^ G. Carnevalel & T.W. Pietsch. 2009. An Eocene frogfish from Monte Bolca, Italy: The earliest known skeletal record for the family