The striated frogfish or hairy frogfish (''Antennarius striatus'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Antennariidae, the frogfishes. This species is found in the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

and eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Taxonomy

The striated frogfish was first formally described in 1794 as ''Lophius striatus'' by the English biologist George Shaw with its type locality given as

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

in the

Society Islands The Society Islands ( , officially ; ) are an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean that includes the major islands of Tahiti, Mo'orea, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora and Huahine. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country ...

. Within the genus '' Antennarius'', this species belongs to the ''striatus''

species group In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies the genus ''Antennarius'' in the family Antennariidae within the suborder Antennarioidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.

Etymology

The striated frogfish has the genus name ''Antennarius'' (which adds ''ius'' after antenna), an allusion to its first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle on the snout used as a lure to attract prey. The specific name ''striatus'' (meaning "striped" or "streaked") refers to the numerous black streaks on the body of this fish.

Description

This small fish grows up to long. Like other members of its family, it has a rounded, extensible body, and its soft skin is covered with irregularly-arranged dermal spinules resembling hairs. Its large mouth is forwardly extensible, allowing it to swallow prey as large as itself. The coloring of its body is extremely variable because individual fish tend to match their living environments. Frogfishes have the capacity to change coloration and pigment pattern, taking only a few weeks to adapt. The dominant coloration varies from yellow to brownish-orange, passing through a range of shades, but it can also be green, gray, brown, almost white, or even completely black without any pattern. Body and fins can be marked with roughly parallel dark stripes or elongated blotches, some with rays radiating outward from the eye. The first dorsal spine, the illicium, tips forward, and is modified for use like a fishing rod. Its tip has a characteristic worm-like esca ( lure) which, when waved, attracts unsuspecting prey. The dorsal spine is composed of two to seven elongated appendages. The lure is a way to easily distinguish ''A. striatus'' from '' Antennarius hispidus'', which otherwise has similar physical characteristics (stripes, coloration, cutaneous appendages) and with which it is often confused. The illicium has the same length as the second dorsal spine and it is often darkly banded. The second dorsal spine is practically vertical and is movable, while the third one is bent towards the back of the body. They are well separated from each other and also from the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

. The

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s are angled, and with the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s, allow the frogfish to "walk" on the sea bottom and to keep a stable position for ambush.

Distribution

The striated frogfish is found in the tropical and subtropical waters from the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

to the center of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on the western coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and from the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

coast to the southern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian coast including the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. The only waters these fish are not found in are the Mediterranean and the Arctic. Williams (1989) and Arnold and Pietsch (2012), however, considered ''Antennarius striatus'' a species complex, and the putative synonym '' Antennarius scaber'' is apparently a distinct species from ''A. striatus'' in having a bifid esca and 11–12 pectoral rays.

Habitat

This species inhabits shallow, sandy areas or rocky and coral reefs to deep waters. It can be found from the surface to with average occurrence at deep. They often mimic coral or sponges around them to blend in with the environment known as cryptic coloration. As general daily temperatures continue to rise, this poses a big problem for the oceans and their inhabitants that rely on the ecosystems within to survive. The frogfish is no exception, as they are dependent on coral reefs to blend in and prey on smaller fish. After a frogfish has been subjected to a certain environment, they are able to take in their settings and change color over the span of a few weeks to blend in with the surroundings. With the oceans gradually becoming warmer, their pH levels are lowering (becoming more acidic), causing the waters to hold less oxygen. This is greatly expressed in the coral reefs in regard to

coral bleaching Coral bleaching is the process when corals become white due to loss of Symbiosis, symbiotic algae and Photosynthesis, photosynthetic pigments. This loss of pigment can be caused by various stressors, such as changes in water temperature, light, ...

where habitats are being lost daily. These acidic conditions bleach the coral, causing it to lose all color. As coral loses its color, the frogfish must adapt and overcome or become more vulnerable to predators. This is seen through the species ''Antennarius maculatus'' where the frogfish has changed to a white color in order to blend in with the bleached coral in the Indian Ocean

Behaviour

As with all frogfishes, ''A. striatus'' is a voracious

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

which will devour all right-sized prey that pass within reach, usually other fish, but sometimes even its own kind. It can swallow prey its own size. Like other members of its family, it has a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

and solitary lifestyle. They gather during mating period, but do not tolerate each other any more after the act of

fertilization Fertilisation or fertilization (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give ...

. The family Antennariidae use a unique form of locomotion which includes a jet type like propulsion that involves breathing. Water is taken in from the mouth and expelled through tube like gill openings behind the pectoral fins that propel the fish forward by performing opercular exhalations The family generally has a globulous body shape with a large mouth upturned in the front of the body. This modification of increased oral cavity and reduced gill openings combined with pulsed water jet like propulsion expelled from breathing allow the fish to propel itself along the floor. They also have a unique jointed pectoral and pelvic fins that allow them to walk along the floor using their anterior dorsal fin in conjunction with their anal tail. Their fins are not modified for actual swimming therefore they remain benthic on the ocean floor. While frogfish have the ability to take in their surroundings and camouflage, they also have the ability to express batesian mimicry where they mimic other dangerous species such as the sea anemone to prevent predators from attacking. An example of such is frogfishes mimicking sea urchins resting on the floor. These fish also have a defense mechanism for when they are found by predators which includes swelling their body with water and remaining inflated to make swallowing difficult. Frogfish are carnivorous, mainly feeding on a diet of small marine fish and crustaceans, but have been known to perform in acts of cannibalism. A. striatus is one of the rare species of this family that exhibits a chemical attractant as well when fishing which is mainly used at night when light is unavailable. It is also observed that the esca is very susceptible to predators therefore the fish rolls it up close to the body when not hunting, and in some species, such as the ''A. pauciradiatus'' and ''A. randalli'' they have a pocket like structure they can place the esca in between the second and third dorsal spine. Frogfish have one of the fastest eating methods known in the animal kingdom, the fish lacks any teeth and uses suction to inhale its food whole and live. They expand their oral cavity by lowering the lower jaw and extending the upper. The trick remains in gaining the preys attention by moving their illicium usually in an arch like or wiggly fashion to mimic that of a small distressed animal. Once the frogfish can bring their prey close enough, they are able to inhale their prey in six thousandths of a second. File:Antennarius striatus.JPG File:Antennarius striatus2.JPG File:Antennarius striatus3.JPG File:Antennarius striatus C.jpg File:Hairy Frogfish.jpg

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1519608 Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Striated frogfish Fish described in 1794