Warty Frogfish

The warty frogfish (Antennarius maculatus), also called the clown frogfish, is a frogfish of the family Antennariidae, an anglerfish. The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) lists Antennarius maculatus (Desjardins, 1840) as the accepted name, and FishBase and Wikipedia agree on the genus and family.

FishBase gives a maximum length of 15 cm (total length). It describes numerous prominent wart-like protuberances on the skin and a large lure (esca) that mimics a tiny fish, carried on a banded first dorsal spine (illicium) about twice as long as the second dorsal spine. Its colour is highly variable, from cream to yellow, brown or black, with dark circular spots and saddles or blotches from white to pink, rust-red or red. FishBase says heavily spotted individuals resemble the painted frogfish (A. pictus), and that red or orange margins on all fins usually tell the warty frogfish apart. Wikipedia adds that frogfishes can change colour over a few weeks, and that this species biofluoresces red under blue or ultraviolet light.

FishBase lists the species as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (version 2025-2, global; assessed 6 September 2021).

FishBase gives its range as the Indo-West Pacific, from the Maldives and Mauritius to Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, recently reported from New Caledonia. It is marine and reef-associated; FishBase gives a depth range of 1 to 15 m, and Wikipedia says adults live down to 20 m. FishBase says it inhabits sheltered rocky reefs, that adults are usually found with sponges and that juveniles sit openly on reefs looking like nudibranchs.

Where Divers Find Them

At Ghost Bay in Amed, Bali, Amed Jepun Divers names "the odd clown frogfish lurking in plain sight", and Amed Dive Center lists the clown frogfish among the rare species found there. Neither says how often it is seen, and neither identifies the fish beyond that common name.

FishBase says it feeds on fishes and is solitary, often among algae, sponges and soft corals, and that its eggs are laid in a ribbon-like sheath of gelatinous mucus (an egg raft). Wikipedia says the first dorsal spine is used as a fishing rod, that the large mouth lets it swallow prey of its own size, and that members of the family live alone on the bottom, coming together only to mate.

Underwater Encounter Behavior

The sources cited here do not describe how the warty frogfish reacts to divers. FishBase lists it as harmless to humans.