A small frogfish identified by three dark ocelli, one on the body and one on each side of the dorsal fin.
Described by Allen in 1970 and reaching about 8 cm standard length, which makes it one of the smaller frogfish a diver is likely to be shown. Colour runs from yellow and orange through red-brown to almost black, and as in all frogfish it is no guide to the species. What identifies it is a set of three dark spots: one on the flank behind the pectoral fin and one on each side of the second dorsal fin. The lure is short — the bony part of the illicium about half the length of the second dorsal spine — and the esca is a bulbous head carrying eight to ten club-shaped tentacles.
Recorded from the western and central Pacific, from Japan and Taiwan through the Philippines and the Moluccas to Fiji and the Marshall Islands, at depths between about 8 and 31 m. Sits among rubble, sponge and the broken ground at reef edges rather than out on open sand, and like other frogfish holds position for days at a time once settled. Females carrying eggs become conspicuously swollen and are usually the individuals photographed; the male stays close in the days before spawning.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.