They Fish for Their Food! and They Dress As If Every Day Were Halloween! Check out the Giant Frogfish at Left

DAVID FLEETHAM/TOM STACK & ASSOC. (30-31); BARRY B. BROWN/WILD HORIZONS (31BR) Freaky

by Kathy Kranking They walk! They fish for their food! And they dress as if every day were Halloween! Check out the giant frogfish at left. In its clever costume, it looks like part of the red sponge it’s resting on. That’s one of the freaky things about frogfish—lots of them don’t even look like fish! ­ Frogfish have bodies that may be strangely shaped, with funny knobs or “horns.” Their skin may be bumpy or smooth. They may be cov- ered with tassels or fringes. And some will even change color to match their surroundings. Frogfish’s disguis- es can make them look so much like sponges, coral, or Like all members of the other things that frogfish family, the giant they seem to just frogfish and the sargassum disappear. Fish? frogfish (far right) are What fish? masters of disguise. To find out more freaky things about frogfish, turn the page. 30 31 This lure looks a lot like a small fish Down the Hatch fish. Sometimes a lureish. But gets a bittenfrog When a curious, hun- off by a hungry f gry fish comes near the can usually grow a new one. lure, the frogfish goes into action. It opens its mouth super fast, sucking in a lot of water. And with the water goes the prey. Gulp! The food slides down the frogfish’s throat, and the water goes back out through its gills. The whole thing is freaky fast—taking only a tiny fraction of a second! Frogfish eat more than just fish. They also like worms and other small creatures. Sometimes a frogfish will stalk its prey, moving step by step across the sea floor until it’s close. Then it opens its mouth and, like a vacuum cleaner, sucks in the prey. A warty frogfish uses its f ins to hang on as it fish has just caught a fish. crawls along a coral reef. This frog Now only the prey’s tail is sticking out thing: They fish for their food! fish can suck in its A frogfish has all it needs to of its mouth. A frog be good at fishing: lots of dinner faster than you can blink. Full of Surprises patience and a fishing You’ve already seen that pole. The pole is built frogfish don’t look much like in to the fish’s head. fish. Well, they don’t act much And at the tip of like fish either. For one thing, it is a fleshy lure. instead of swimming, frogfish Depending on the prefer to walk! Frogfish can species of frog- lure swim, but they’re slow and fish, the lure can clumsy. They can get around look like any- much better by walking—or thing from a little even crawling or hopping— fish to a shrimp to using their fins as feet. a worm. But frogfish spend a lot of Holding the rest time just sitting still, too— of its body very still, pretending to be things such as the frogfish wiggles the Attracted by the wiggling corals or sponges. Blending in lure to make it look as if it’s lure, the little fish (left) may so well that they can barely be alive. (Frogfish are sneaky soon disappear into the mouth seen, they do another freaky as well as freaky!) of the hairy frogf ish (right).

KAI VELLING/SEAPICS.COM (32T); SHINJI KUSANO/NATURE PRODUCTION/MINDEN 32 PICTURES (32B); D. R. SCHRICHTE/SEAPICS.COM (33T); RODGER KLEIN/SEAPICS.COM (33B) 33 33 Fooling Everyone Egg-stra Care Prey animals aren’t the When it comes to raising only ones tricked by the young, most kinds of frogfish disguises of frogfish. People— don’t stick around to care for such as scientists trying to their eggs. Usually, the female study the fish—have been releases her eggs, and the male fooled, too. Frogfish have so fertilizes them. Then both of many different disguises and them swim away. The eggs float color changes that scientists along until the young hatch and thought there were more than drift off on their own. 130 species of these fish. But But a few species do care for then they figured something their eggs. The female may attach out: Some of the fishes they her eggs to her mate’s body. Then thought were different spe- he carries them around until they cies were the same species hatch. Or the female may lay her in different disguises. Now eggs in a protected place, such as they believe there are actually a cave or ledge. Then she or the about 53 species of frogfish. male guards the eggs until they When eating, a frogfish can expand its mouth to 12 hatch. Any egg-predators that times its normal size! But the giant frogfish above come too close may be eaten! After baby frogfish hatch, isn’t trying to catch a meal. Frogfish also open fish The male smooth frog they float along in the ocean for their mouths very wide when they feel threatened. Male frogfish are much smaller than their mates. below is guarding his eggs. a while. Then, when the time is right, they settle to the bottom, At the bottom of this female’s body is a puffy sac See the little black eyes of full of eggs. Soon she’ll release the eggs, and the the babies growing inside? ready to do all the freaky things that make frogfish so special! male waiting below her will fertilize them.

If you have a chance to visit a public aquarium, see whether it has a frogfish exhibit. It’s a great opportunity to meet a frogfish face to face—if you can find its face! = Only about the size of a grain of rice, this baby orange painted mini-model of its parents. frogAs anfish adult, is a it may be up to a foot long.

VELERIJA S. VLASON/SEAPICS.COM (34T); JOHN C. LEWIS/SEAPICS.COM (34B); 34 STEVEN KOVACS/SEAPICS.COM (35T); JÜRGEN FREUND/NATUREPL.COM (35B) 35 35