The male carries the egg mass stuck to his own flank until it hatches.
A frogfish to about 12 cm, usually dark brown, grey or black, marked with two or three dark ocelli ringed in pale cream along the flank and at the base of the dorsal fin. The skin is smooth compared with the warty and hairy species, the lure is very short and easily overlooked, and the mouth is proportionally smaller than in Antennarius. It is a shallow-water, shelter-loving animal rather than one that sits out on open sand.
The species is set apart by its brooding. The female lays a compact egg mass which adheres to the male’s flank, and he carries it there — sometimes a mass a substantial fraction of his own size — until the eggs hatch, moving and feeding normally throughout. Very few fish carry eggs this way and none of the other frogfish on this list does. Found among rubble, in tin cans and bottles, in the crevices of jetty pilings and under debris, usually in the first 10 m and rarely below 15. Nocturnal, and most often shown by a guide who knows the individual hole.
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.