Freckled Anglerfish

Abantennarius coccineus, the scarlet or freckled frogfish, is a species of frogfish originally classified as Chironectes coccineus and Antennarius coccineus. It lives within tropical waters and has a central distribution being around Indo-East-Pacific areas — excluding Hawaii. The habitat of the scarlet frogfish is in the shallow zones of the ocean. It is found within reef areas, in rocky mounds or sponges where there are places for it to hide amongst from predators. The scarlet frogfish comes in a variety of colours, from tan and brown colours to bright reds and yellows and will grow to a maximum length of 13 centimetres (5.1 in). It can be identified taxonomically through its pectoral rays, the presence of dark patches that appear on its fins and body, along with its lack of distinctive tail base. The scarlet frogfish is not harmful to humans and is not caught by fisheries for consumption purposes, however it has been caught previously for studies relating to the abundance of reef-dwelling fish and as bycatch of shrimp trawling. Similar to other frogfish species, the scarlet frogfish is a predatory carnivore and exhibits a low degree of sociality, only interacting with other scarlet frogfish during their mating period.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Abantennarius coccineus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where it has been recorded

Best months

English

Freckled Anglerfish, freckled frogfish, Hawaiian Frogfish, Scarlet Anglerfish, Scarlet Frogfish, Whitebait Frogfish, Whitebiat Frogfish

Other scientific names: Abantennarius neocaledoniensis, Antennarius coccineus, Antennarius immaculatus, Antennarius leucus, Antennarius moai, Antennarius stigmaticus, Antennatus coccineus, Chironectes coccineus