ScubaZoo's Jason Isley Tells The Story Behind Capturing His Amazing Frogfish Behavior Videos

Scubazoo's Jason Isely was recently shooting video in Lembeh and was able to capture some intersting frogifsh footage. Below he describes how he captured two amazing videos of frogfish eating. You can find more great videos from Scubazoo on their YouTube channel. 

By Jason Isley

Orange Painted Frogfish Feeding.
During a shoot in Lembeh, Indonesia we were diving around the old Police Pier and noticed quite a few painted frogfish. One pair was going through the courtship motions, however this one was patiently eyeing the cardinalfish that kept passing over his location so I decided to set the camera just in front of him. There were quite a few close passes but always beyond the striking distance. Then this unfortunate cardinalfish swam directly above the frogfish. At first I thought he was going to let it pass, but to my surprise he did an overhead strike leading into a somersault and finished with a pirouette!

 Giant Frogfish feeding on dwarf lionfish / location TK2, Lembeh Strait.
I was all set for a very long dusk dive with these two (yes look closely just in front and below the yellow frogfish!) giant frogfish and was hoping for some courtship displays followed by a mating sequence. The sun had set and the two frogfish really didn't look like they were interested in each other so I was thinking of moving on when this dwarf lionfish started moving around the frogfish. I had read about frogfish feeding on lionfish so I knew they would possibly strike and then when the lionfish went between the two frogfish I was ready for the action. Once swallowed you can clearly see the frogfish twitching as it digests the lionfish.