We’ve seen some small frogfish over the years and any specimen that is described in pinky-nail units is a tiny fish indeed. What makes seeing such small frogfish so surprising is knowing how large they get, but we think we’ve found the picture of the smallest possible frogfish.
Photographed by by Kazutoshi Uehara ofGT Diversin southern Japan, this particularly small frogfish is smaller than a tiny pebble, looking almost like it could be hurt by the tiny hydroid polyps around it. There’s no doubt that camouflage is super important for frogfish all during their lives and this is perhaps why frogfish settle out so small.
Being so round and not hydrodynamic, larval frogfish probably can’t swim any better than their parents so it behooves them to hurry up and do what they do best, and that is hide in the reef ecosystem. Being sedentary and popular, it’s a shame that frogfish have only been bred once to date, as these tiny lumps of colorful fish would be extremely popular and spark a new wave of nano tanks designed just for these fascinating creatures.
