June 26, 2020
Last week, my friend, Mary, emailed that while snorkeling off Ala Moana Beach Park, she found two little white-tipped reef sharks, a three-flippered turtle she rescued a year earlier from a fishing net, and to top it off, an exuberant monk seal. Mary wrote, “It was my happiest day in months.”
I know the feeling. Last week, another friend, Valerie, texted me to meet her on the beach, because she wanted to show me a frogfish she’d been seeing for a couple of weeks. I grabbed my snorkel gear and raced to the spot.
A baby Commerson’s frogfish, also called a giant frogfish. ©Craig Thomas
Frogfish have to be the weirdest fish in the sea. First, they change skin color and texture so well to match their background that even with someone pointing right at one, you often can’t see it. This has happened to me during a scuba dive when a partner gestured wildly to a rock. It meant nothing to me until she poked it. The rock hopped.
Frogfish hop rather than swim, because they stand on fins that look like little hands and feet. But startle a frogfish, and it sucks water into its enormous mouth, forces it out through gill openings set back on the body, and flies away.
As if wearing rock or sponge disguises, and jetting around the reef isn’t strange enough, a frogfish also carries a lure-tipped fishing rod, earning the family nickname of anglerfish.
Frogfish stand on limblike fins. This one has tucked its fishing pole (not visible) flat on its head. ©Susan Scott
Most often, the fish lays its fishing pole back, on top if its head. But when potential prey swims near, the frogfish flicks the rod out, and wiggles the lure. Frogfish gulp down passing fish and invertebrates with such speed that others nearby don’t notice, often giving the frogfish several helpings.
Of the nearly 50 species of frogfish in the world, Hawaii hosts 11. The most common is the giant frogfish, also called Commerson’s frogfish, growing to 12 inches long. Youngsters are often yellow, mimicking a sponge, which is what Valerie found.
She was able to visit the 4-inch-long fish for two weeks, because frogfish often stick around one area for months, or if undisturbed, even years. And sure enough, when we entered the water, there it was, standing out like a lost bathtub toy.
Craig and I were thrilled to see this cheery little fish, and just in time too. The next day it was gone.
Thank you, dear friends, for sharing the marine animals that make you happy. They make me happy too.
A reminder from my friend, Mary.
My own version of a frogfish. Making art from things I find on my beach walks makes my weird little heart happy.