SECRETS OF THE OCEAN
The toadfish, also known as Antennarius maculatus, with whom it resembles due to the wartlike protuberances and small barbs that it carries on the skin. This resemblance is further enhanced by using their pectoral fins to lean on the rocks
Its appearance and coloration is very variable, since it presents multiple mimetic colorations with the environment, especially in its adult stage. The juveniles show some more striking tonalities as they pretend to be poisonous nudibranchs to avoid capture by their predators.
The Antennarius are voracious animals that have developed the first of the spines of the dorsal fin as a decoy to attract prey. This lure simulates a small fish or even a shrimp that moves repetitively. Then, once attracted, the confident victim is able to increase the size of his mouth 12 times to swallow it whole.
It encompasses 13 genera and 47 species. These fish are found in a wide range of sizes ranging from 5 to 40 cm in length and have among their main characteristics a great capacity for mimicry and elongation of the spine that, simulating a worm or small fish, the fish Toad uses fishing line as a fishing rod to capture its prey.
Toadfish feed on crustaceans, all kinds of fish and even eat other toadfish. The hunting of the fish toad is very interesting since it mixes a total concentration, very high speed, capacity of surprise and the incredible use of its "fishing rod". When the toadfish catches a prey, he follows it with his gaze and then begins to move his appendix, inciting the prey to approach. The frogfish approaches very slowly, adjusts the angle of its mouth and absorbs the fish along with the water. The frogfish is able to increase the size of the cavity of your mouth up to twelve times and perform an attack in only 6 milliseconds! After the prey is swallowed, which can be double the size of the toadfish itself, for which the capacity of its stomach doubles, it closes the esophagus with a muscle that prevents the victim from escaping.
Toadfish have a robust appearance and is uncommon in other fish. Its body, which does not have scales, is covered with spines, irregularities and warts that allow it to become confused with sponges, sea squirts, corals and even rocks. Other species, such as the hairy toad fish, are covered with filaments that perfectly mimic algae. Bright colors ranging from white, yellow, red or green or black, often have spots and mottled patterns to hide in the environment of the reef or muddy bottom. This camouflage is an important defensive strategy against predators, there are some species that inflate water to simulate larger size before a possible predator.
Toadfish are not the best swimmers in the ocean, far from it. They usually find themselves seated on the seabed waiting to go unnoticed by a prey and swallow it with their huge mouth. They can move slowly across the surface by moving their pectoral fins simultaneously back and forth, transferring their weight to the pelvic fins while moving the pectorals forward, but can only make short trips. In open waters, toad fishes are able to swim by moving their tail fins and there are small species that use a kind of jet propulsion to swim.
In the wild it lives in shallow waters, between 0 and 20 meters, always near the reefs, but it is difficult to observe it in its natural environment due to its perfect camouflage and the very different colorations that it adopts. Juveniles are often confused with fish A. Pictus and A. Maculatus.
A. Commerson has the curious ability to change its coloration and match it with the sponges or corals that surround it. He likes to rest on the sponges and change their color until they look exactly like them, perfectly camouflaged and practically invisible, unless they move and reveal their presence. As if this was not enough, let some seaweed grow on your skin, to give more realism to your "disguise".
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