Do Frog fish have exhaust pipes?

[smb2]

I love finding Frog fish, but today I saw something for the first time. I need some help with Frog fish anatomy. I never gave a thought to the fact that FF don't have a true gill plate. You never see their gills. So how does water flow over them? The pictures show a large female filled with eggs. Today I noticed in her "arm pit" behind the pectoral fin/foot a siphon like opening that must be the water outflow. How does this work?

[Leslie Harris]

Like any other fish they inhale water through their mouths which flow out through the gill openings. The "siphon" is the gill opening and the capillaries which absorb oxygen are inside. Like cephalopods their primary mode of location in the water is by jet propulsion through the gills. There's a great website by frogfish fanatic Teresa Zubi at http://frogfish.ch/ Great photos, by the way....

[scottg]

Great find Stan!

[Critternut]

Theresa Zubi is an excellent source of info. Infact take as many photos over the next month of the mating and send her the pics. Good info for all froggy fans. While your at her site, have a look at the section about reproduction.

Siphon, the use of this unique apparatus allows for our friend's to ambulate through the water column. Gulp with a frighting strike speed and consume objects often larger then themselves without causing damage to the way they aspirate.

I would chime in here and add that without proper dissection the sex of the said froggy is not possible to determine. However in this instance i would assume that it is a female...


Unidentified Frogfish (male) in the foreground coaxing eggs from the female. Without success may i add, why just look at the expression on her face

The male will come along and through his own game try to coax the female to release her eggs.At which point he will fertilze by casting. She may make dash for the surface and do this, creating a raft. Or lay them, in a more benthic manner. This is extremely valuable data, i would love to see the results...

Good Luck!
Mike Bartick-Critternut
http://www.saltwaterphoto.com

[smb2]

Mike, Leslie, thanks for the site.
Here is a profile. That is a big belly!
And her spouse equivalent was hanging around the other day.
In general, isn't the male quite smaller than the female?

[Leslie Harris]

Males do seem to be smaller on average but I've seen pics of courtship where the two were subequal in size. It's quite funny to watch a herd of males in a slow-motion chase of one grumpy female over the bottom. Mating is not without danger to the male though..... I remember one outstanding video where the female, after nudging a male for attention & not getting it, swallowed him in one gulp. There's a moral in that I"m sure!

[Critternut]

Yes the male is small but he is ambitious.But generally? in a sense of judging sex by the size. Well im not an expert to give you a definitive answer on that, but general consensus from the collected data has not indicated the females to be larger then the males. Type of frogfish, food availability, age all seem to be determining factors. But from what i have learned is that without proper dissection sex ID is not possible.

Froggies are cannibalistic True indiscriminate feeders.
I shot a great series in Lembeh several years ago, of two Froggies. The larger of the two leaned over and bumped the little guy. The eyes said everything at that point. The little one looked at the larger froggy and took off as fast as he could. Larger froggy in hot persuit. I was cracking up, shooting away, then the large one sucked the small one into its mouth and began to rag doll the smaller frogfish. I couldn't believe it, I ended up separating the two.

Do me a favor and get a couple shots of the lure too...


The lure may change depending on available food sources, age, etc.

+10 Diopter, 105 old school Nikon, D300


Fresh from the egg, 60mm w 1.4 tele, Nikon D300


Painted frogfish 60 mm 1.4 tele D300


any data collected for frogfish is needed. There is very little known about them

[scottg]

I love that last photo Mikey, nice one!

[smb2]

Here is one with the lure out.