I’ve been searching for frogfish my whole life.

Also, I have a tendency toward hyperbole.

Seriously though, ever since I learned of the existence of frogfish, I’ve wanted to see one. Apparently they’re around in Curaçao, but despite my best efforts, I never found one.

I was beginning to think they were mythical beasts, like unicorns and moose. I seriously believed moose were fictional for the first year or so I lived in New England. As real as unicorns, I’d assert to anyone who asked, and to some people who didn’t. Stop making up these antlered horsebeasts.

Anyway.

Frogfish have officially become real animals as of today, when our guide here in Anilao found not one, but two of them. And then we found a third!

And they are ridiculous.
 

How to find a frogfish

How to find a frogfish? Find a guide who knows how to find them. In the absence of that, look for sponges. Look at all the sponges. If a sponge looks like it has a mouth, it might be a frogfish. If it doesn’t look like it has a mouth, it might still be a frogfish. Maybe poke it. If it moves, your chances that it is a frogfish just went up.

You’re probably going to want to share your frogfish find with someone. Your next step is to look up and completely lose the frogfish. You might have to start over with the sponge-poking process when you can’t find your frogfish again. It’s ok. I can’t even find the frogfish in most of my photos of frogfish.

Frogfish Behavior

Frogfish don’t seem to do a whole lot. The ones we saw basically just sat there, occasionally moving their mouths. When frogfish do decide to move, they crawl along the floor using their fins like legs. They hunt by dangling a lure off their foreheads to draw in crustaceans and other fish. Apparently frogfish can eat other fish up to twice their size!