Can You Identify This Frogfish?
PRESS RELEASE
The team at Maluku Divers recently rediscovered a very interesting frogfish in Ambon Bay.
During a dive on Laha which is just fifteen minutes from the dive facility and newly refurbished en-suite resort accommodation on the southern coast of Ambon, in the village of Latuhalat, divemaster Toby Fadirsyair and owner Buck Randolph were incredibly excited to spot this little specimen. 
Toby has been diving this region for over 18 years and after surfacing, said he had only seen this species once before and that was 15 years ago. The decision was quickly made for Buck to get a camera while Toby descended to keep an eye on his find.
Afterwards, they realised that they couldn't identify exactly what type of frogfish Maluku Divers contacted authors Beth and Shaun Tierney of www.SeaFocus.com who visited Ambon in 2007. They were equally excited but despite a lot of searching could only suggest it was a variation of a striped frogfish and recommended we look towards some real scientists. Since then we have contacted several top fish identification experts to see if they can establish the scientific details of the specimen.
The frogfish is one of a pair and is about 10cm long. Toby, the most highly rated dive guide at Maluku Divers, says it has remained elusive ever since without a single photograph captured, until recently that is. Now, with photographic evidence, a proper identification may be possible.
Andy,
Outstanding! But not new. Randall and Holcom described it in 2001 as Antennatus linearis. Even more amazing is that although "rare", it has also been found in S. Africa, Mozambique and Hawaii! The individual in the photos is an exceptionally beautiful variant with more curves than those in other photos. Even stranger, this species has the illicium (pole) but not the esca (lure) but still fishes with it. One kept in an aquarium ate a cleaner shrimp Lysmata amboinensis. Just goes to show how hidden these guys are. Imagine all the photographers across the Indo-Pacific and so few photos (or specimens).
Here is a link to the species that Robert points out above: http://www.fishbase.org/Photos/PicturesSummary.cfm?ID=59456&what=species
Same frogfish? I think the mystery may still be unsolved.
What do you think?
Congrats to Andy & Buck for having such a cool new find on their house reef!
http://www.uwfishcollection.org/psychedelica/