A relative of the frogfish that walks on modified pectoral fins and does not swim. It lives only in the Derwent estuary in Tasmania and is critically endangered.
To about 15 cm, mottled cream and brown with rust-coloured spots, a small forward-pointing lure above the mouth, and pectoral fins modified into hands with which it walks. It is a relative of the frogfish and shares the lure and the ambush habit, but it does not swim: the pectoral and pelvic fins carry it across the bottom in a slow walk.
It lives in the Derwent estuary in Tasmania and in a few adjacent bays, and nowhere else. It is listed as critically endangered and was among the first marine fish anywhere to be listed. Two things went against it: the eggs are laid on stalked sea squirts, and the introduced northern Pacific sea star ate the sea squirts; and it has no drifting larval stage, so the young settle where they hatch and a lost population does not refill from elsewhere. Artificial spawning posts have been placed on the bottom and are used. Diving on it is managed and what is written here is the situation rather than an invitation.
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.