frog fish
Class: OSTEICHTHYES = Bony Fish
Order: Scorpaeniformes = Scorpion
Family: Cyclopteridae = Cyclopterids (Roundfins)
Genus: Aptocyclus =
Species: Aptocyclus ventricosus Pallas, 1769 = Frogfish
Frogfish in literature and other languages is found under different names: Smooth lumpsucker (English), Hotei-uo (Japanese), Ddug-ji (Korean) and synonyms: Latin - Cyclopterus ventricosus Pallas, 1769; Cyclopterichthys glaber Steindachner, 1881; Liparops stelleri Garman, 1892.
A frog fish, at first glance, resembles a shapeless, dirty-colored block. The frogfish belongs to the roundfin family, whose representatives inhabit mainly the cold waters of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. One of the main features of this family is the disk-shaped pectoral fins that work like suction cups. Only thanks to the fins of such a structure, frog fish can firmly attach themselves to sheer underwater rocks, becoming almost invisible against their background. Frog fish, like many bottom and deep sea fish, are devoid of a swim bladder and swim due to the low density of their body. They wait for prey, sitting on a rocky bottom or partially buried in the mud at the bottom.
Body shape and skin in males and females are different. Males are characterized by very thick, wrinkled skin, a well-ossified skeleton of the body and head, and a large sucker. Females are characterized, as a rule, by thin and smooth skin, a weakly ossified skeleton, which causes flabbiness of their body and does not ensure the preservation of its shape. The ventral sucker in females is small. The first dorsal fin in adults is indistinguishable from the outside; it is hidden under the skin and can only be discovered by autopsy. It has 5 vestigial rays. The coloration is dark brown, the ventral surface is pale yellow, many black spots are scattered along the back and sides of the body. D(5), 8-11; A 6-9; P 19-22; C 9-11; Vert. 27-29.
Eurybathic fish, reaching a length of 40 cm and living in a wide range of depths - from the surface layers to a depth of 1700 m. 
In winter, the frog fish approaches the shallow coastal waters. Here, in the zone of stony placers and thickets of algae, at a depth of 5-10 m, from February to May, it spawns. Slots and depressions under and between stones serve as a place for spawning and shelter for caviar, where caviar is deposited. The fecundity of females is quite large - from 30 to 50 thousand eggs. The caviar is painted in light yellow colors, the diameter of the eggs is approximately 2.2-2.5 mm. Females once spawning, die shortly after spawning. And after the eggs are fertilized, the males remain at the clutches of eggs, taking on further care for the offspring. The hatched prelarvae are only 6-7 mm long. Immediately after hatching, the larvae remain inactive for some time, attaching to stones. As they grow, these fish move to a pelagic way of life and can be found even in the surface layers of water. The basis of the diet of frogfish is mainly a variety of benthic invertebrates and worms.
The frogfish is a marine species. It is widely distributed in the North Pacific, from the coast of the Korean Peninsula to the Bering Sea and along the American coast south to British Columbia. This fish is also found off the coast of Russia in the waters of Primorye - everywhere.
If you want to see something truly unusual and impressive during your upcoming vacation, we offer you our list of the creepiest creatures that can impress.
frog fish
A small and very unattractive frogfish lives in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. Outwardly, it strongly resembles a drop fish, only a little less sad and optimistic. It poses a serious danger to bathers, as it has poisonous spikes that can cause serious injury. The frog fish is slow, it feeds on mollusks and small vertebrates that accidentally swam into its huge open mouth.
purple frog
The purple frog was discovered by scientists in 2003, so it recently had its tenth anniversary. This species is a living fossil that lives in the Western Ghats, the habitat occupies a tiny area of 14 kilometers square. The closest relatives of this brown lump of mucus live thousands of kilometers to the west - in the Seychelles. She leads a reclusive life, feeds on termites and comes to the surface several times a year only to mate.
Goblin shark
Another extremely unattractive inhabitant of the oceans. In many sources, it appears as a goblin shark. She received all her insulting nicknames for her ugly nose and retractable mouth with thin crooked teeth. Despite the intimidating appearance, this shark is only potentially dangerous to humans: it lives at a very great depth and in order to collide with it, you will need to try very hard. In the same case, if you meet her face to face, then a two hundred kilogram goblin shark will consider you quite a good breakfast.
drop fish
When God created all living things and saw “that it is good,” he simply did not notice the drop fish. According to numerous Internet polls, a drop fish is the ugliest animal of all the inhabitants of the sea. On the other hand, the fish has such sad eyes, exuding some kind of incomprehensible existential longing, that hardly anyone could tell her face that she is ugly. When you look at this gloomy creature, the sadness from which no comedian can wash away, you understand that nature is still imperfect. The drop fish lives off the coast of Australia at a depth of about a kilometer, is endangered.
European anglerfish
For its unattractive appearance, this fish is also called monkfish. This deep-sea animal, can live at depths of up to half a kilometer, is edible, especially in France. It has a white, dense, boneless meat that is very popular in restaurants. It leads a motionless lifestyle, lies at the bottom in anticipation of prey. In order to attract fish that can be eaten, it uses a luminous process near its mouth for hunting. The formidable appearance does not help anglers to protect themselves from lovers of exotic cuisine, and their population is slowly decreasing.
Platypus
An overeating beaver with a duck's beak and poisonous spurs on its hind legs - what could be worse. It is one of the few poisonous mammals that can seriously cripple their offenders. Platypus venom is deadly for small animals, but for humans it does not pose a serious threat, except that it is fraught with a huge swelling and unbearable pain, which can last for several months. Nevertheless, this unsympathetic animal is one of the symbols of Australia and is even depicted on a twenty-cent coin.
Ay-ay
This animal is also called the Madagascar bat. It has an elongated body with thin legs, which clings to tree branches. So nasty appearance can be explained by not very beautiful hair, which bristles on the head. On the other hand, Ai-ai has some charming charm and charisma. He may not be handsome, but, for sure, he has a very rich inner world.
Naked digger
This small animal would be a completely unremarkable burrowing rodent if it were not so ugly. His bald pink skin seems to show through, and fine white stubble sticks out like antennae. Also, a curious feature of diggers is their immunity to cancer and insensitivity to certain types of physical influences: they do not react in any way to thermal and chemical burns, they can live at an extremely high concentration of carbon dioxide. Naked mole rats have a strict internal hierarchy between individuals and differ from other rodents in a complex social structure. With such organization and endurance, it is not surprising that naked mole rats can live up to thirty years.
They live in the waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. They prefer tropical and temperate waters. It lives in mangroves and near reefs.
Appearance
This is a rather large fish, the length of its massive body is 42 cm, weight is 1.5 - 2.2 kg. Her appearance is, frankly, unpleasant. Although many will like it for its unusualness. The head is huge, with large eyes, the mouth is wide. The body is devoid of scales, but it is full of growths and spikes of various shapes. Pelvic fins with 1 spiny and 2 soft rays. The first dorsal fin has 2-4 sharp spines, the second has up to 23 soft rays. All growths and spikes are supplied with poisonous mucus. The color perfectly disguises the predator on the sandy bottom, where she likes to burrow, leaving only her eyes on the surface. The main tone is brown-yellow, decorated with various stripes and spots of dark colors.
Lifestyle
Toad fish leads a solitary and predatory lifestyle. Likes to hide in burrows under rocks. This unusual fish has another feature - it can make sounds, grumble and even sing. And the swim bladder, which is divided into two parts, helps her sing. Each part of it has nerve endings and muscles. With their reduction (up to 200 times per second) and, it turns out to make sounds to the fish. She sings apparently to attract females and informs everyone about the occupied territory.
Nutrition
This predator feeds on worms, mollusks, crabs and fish. Buried in the sand, she patiently waits for an onlooker, then abruptly jumps out of the shelter and opens her mouth wide, swallowing the victim. If the fish does not have enough food, it eats algae and various plants.
reproduction
The mating season begins in April and lasts until October. The male attracts the female by singing. Then he builds a nest in a secluded place. The yellow eggs laid by the female (up to 500 pieces) are guarded by the male for 21 days. Rarely, the female replaces him, all responsibility is on the father. The fry that appear, similar to tadpoles, will be under the supervision and protection of their parents for some time. As soon as the offspring grow up and get stronger, the parents leave them. Now the young fish begin an independent life. Fish poison If you prick yourself on a toad fish, you need to apply a hot compress to the inflamed area or take a bath, because at high temperatures the action of the poison is destroyed.
Native to the Indo-Pacific region, its range extends from Australia in the south to Thailand in the north. They live in coastal waters, mangrove estuaries, in the lower reaches of rivers flowing into the sea. The natural environment is characterized by soft silted substrates and an abundance of shelters in the form of snags and roots. The bottom, as a rule, is littered with various plant remains and other organic matter.
Brief information:
- The volume of the aquarium - from 300 liters.
- Water and air temperature - 22–28°C
- pH value - 7.8–8.5
- Water hardness - medium to high hardness (15–35 dGH)
- Substrate type - sandy, silty
- Lighting - moderate
- Brackish water - yes, in a concentration of 5–20 gr. per 1 liter of water
- Water movement - weak, moderate
- The size of the fish is about 30 cm.
- Nutrition - meat feed
- Temperament - peaceful
- Single content
- Life expectancy about 20 years
Description
Adult individuals reach a length of up to 30 cm, and a third of the body is the head, covered with numerous growths. The pectoral fins are large and designed not only for swimming, but also serve as limbs for moving along the soft bottom. The tail is small, rounded. The dorsal fin is divided into two and stretches like a crest all over the body. The color is uneven dark brown. Sharp spikes are hidden in the skin, with which the fish bristles in case of danger.
Such an unusual appearance serves one purpose - to disguise itself as a stone overgrown with algae or any other lump.
Nutrition
Relying on its camouflage, the Three-spined Toadfish can stay motionless for long periods of time waiting for nearby prey. If the victim is too close, then a lightning reaction will follow and it will be swallowed.
AT wild nature the diet is very diverse and consists of fish, crabs, shrimps, octopuses, bivalves, snails, sea urchins and polychaete worms. In a home aquarium, it will accept bloodworms, earthworms, fish meat (for example, ordinary pollock from a store) and shrimp.
The frequency of meals is 1-2 times a week, which is quite enough and correlates with the diet in nature.
Maintenance and care, arrangement of the aquarium
Given the size of an adult and sedentary image An aquarium from 300 liters is quite suitable for maintenance. There is no need to recreate the silted beaches characteristic of the natural habitat. In the design, you can use gravel with large boulders and other dark soil. The presence of snags and aquatic vegetation is welcome. Plants must be adapted to grow in brackish conditions.
The aquarium should contain brackish water with a salt concentration of 5 to 20 grams per 1 liter of water. In fresh water, the fish will not survive for long.
Successful keeping depends on maintaining stable water conditions. In addition to the operation of the filtration system, regular removal of organic waste and weekly partial water changes of 25 to 50% or more should be ensured. Volumes depend on salinity and the number of inhabitants. Features of caring for such an aquarium are determined individually, so it is impossible to give exact instructions.
Behavior and Compatibility
Peaceful calm fish despite its predatory disposition. Able to get along with non-aggressive species of comparable size. Too small neighbors can be eaten. Toad fish prefers solitary content.
It would seem that we live in a time when everything has already been discovered, found and studied, and there are no unknown animals at all.
But, nevertheless, nature does not get tired of making surprises to man. An example of such a surprise was the discovery in 2009 by zoologists David Hall, Rachel Arnold and Ted Pitsch of Histiophryne psychedelica, or, simply put, the psychedelic frogfish. This is a small fish, only about fifteen centimeters long. But she has such an outstanding appearance that at first it is even difficult to understand - is it a fish or something else?
Psychedelic fish is a representative of the anglerfish order, zoologists consider it a "relative" of the monkfish.
But they have differences: to attract prey, it uses a special process on its head, and the psychedelic frogfish has developed its own methods of hunting, for which the presence of a process is simply not required. The psychedelic fish, like the monkfish, belongs to the clownfish family, in which this fish has other "relatives", including the decorated frogfish.
One of characteristic features psychedelic fish (and other frog fish, by the way) is the presence of thick and loose skin. But this fish has no scales at all. Coral reefs are a common habitat for psychedelic fish. This is a great place to hunt. But there is a downside to the coin - it can harm the skin of psychedelic fish. This explains the fact that the skin of this fish is often covered with mucus, which avoids injury from sharp corals.
The psychedelic frogfish has an unusual coloration - many stripes of white, brown and yellowish colors that form an intricate motley pattern. Just like fingerprints on humans and stripes on tigers, the arrangement of the stripes on each psychedelic fish is completely different.
At first glance, it may seem that psychedelic fish can scare off potential prey with such a colorful color. In fact, the opposite is true: these multi-colored stripes on the body of the frog fish resemble corals, and it is this circumstance that helps it to camouflage itself perfectly. Sometimes it is simply impossible to distinguish fish from coral without special equipment. Most often, psychedelic frogfish can be seen in coral reefs near the island of Bali in Indonesia.
The eyes of the psychedelic fish also attract attention. Although they are quite small in size, in fact they give the impression of being quite large due to the bright turquoise spots located on the head of the fish. They are also called "slaps". The psychedelic frogfish, like most other abodes of the sea, has potential opponents.
To scare them away from themselves, the frog fish has developed its own method of intimidation: it protrudes its mouth forward, as a result, the head of the fish visually increases in size. And her enemy can not stand such a spectacle and retreats. The eyes of a psychedelic fish are located in the same way as in humans: in front, and not on the sides, as is typical for most fish.
