Frogfish

Photo: saturdaze · © all rights reserved

Giant frogfish up to 35 cm attach themselves to sponges and match their colour so precisely that even experienced guides sometimes walk past them. Their modified pectoral fins act as limbs, and they walk rather than swim between hunting positions — a behaviour that remains startling no matter how often it is witnessed. Dutch Bay's diverse sponge community provides both camouflage substrate and hunting grounds, and regular dive guides maintain a mental map of favoured frogfish territories that persist for months at a time.