
Frogfishes
Antennariidae
Frogfishes are any member of the anglerfish family Antennariidae, of the order Lophiiformes. Antennariids are known as anglerfish in Australia, where the term "frogfish" refers to members of the unrelated family Batrachoididae. Frogfishes are found in almost all tropical and subtropical oceans and seas around the world, the primary exception being the Mediterranean Sea.
Frogfishes are small, short and stocky, and sometimes covered in spinules and other appendages to aid in camouflage. The camouflage aids in protection from predators and enables them to lure prey. Many species can change colour; some are covered with other organisms, such as algae or hydrozoa. In keeping with this camouflage, frogfishes typically move slowly, lying in wait for prey, and then striking extremely rapidly, in as little as 6 milliseconds.
8 branches of this family, most-observed first · about 69 known species

Fibonacci frogfishes
subfamilyAntennariinae

Balrog Frogfishes
subfamilyRhycherinae

Starfingered Frogfishes
subfamilyHistiophryninae

Fanfin frogfishes
subfamilyFowlerichthyinae

Handfishes
subfamilyBrachionichthyinae

Four-armed Frogfishes
subfamilyTetrabrachiinae

Longfin Frogfishes
subfamilyTathicarpinae
Lophichthyin Frogfishes
subfamilyLophichthyinae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Antennariidae in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 63279.