These are selected from multiple visits to "The Coral Triangle" which covers the
Philippines in the North, then South to the Eastern part of Papua/Solomon Islands
and across Indonesia to the West. It's the area with the greatest marine diversity in
the world. We have been fortunate to make many trips to this distant area over many
years which are covered in the individual galleries. This a condensed version,
assembled from the individual galleries and featuring "the best of"species by type.
These photos have been taken between 2004 and present, mostly in Indonesia and the
Philippines.
Frogfish are members of the Anglerfish family, champion lurkers, staying mostly
motionless. They extend a little wiggling lure over their mouths that attracts fish that
think it's a meal. The Frogfish can extend its mouthparts in 1/500th of a second to
swallow the unwary victim. They come in many forms, colors and sizes, frequently
assuming colors that match their surroundings, orange frogfish on orange sponges
can be seen here. Also see the massive color variations of the same species. They
seldom swim but do "walk" around using their front pectoral fins. Most of these are
around five inches long, the Giant Frogfish are ten to twelve.
Seldom found in the Caribbean, Frogfish are abundant in the Coral Triangle. In the
Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi, Indonesia, a dive without seeing at least four would
be unusual.
CLICK ON THUMBNAIL FOR FULL SIZE IMAGE THEN "PLAY" TO ACTIVATE
SLIDESHOW, OR CLICK "NEXT" FOR PICTURE BY PICTURE ACTIVATION.