Animalia Life

Antennarius radiosus
FAMILY
Antennariidae
TAXONOMY
Antennarius radiosus Garman, 1896.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Singlespot frogfish.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
The big-eye frogfish has skin with closely set, forked dermal spinules. The illicium is about as long as the second dorsal fin spine and has no dermal spinules. There is a single dark spot (ocellus) surrounded by a lightly colored ring below the posterior portion of the soft dorsal fin.
DISTRIBUTION
The big-eye frogfish occurs in the western Atlantic Ocean from Long Island, New York, to Florida and across the northern Gulf of Mexico. It has been reported from the eastern Atlantic, but it is apparently very rare there. It has been taken at depths ranging from 20 to 900 ft (6–275 m).
HABITAT
Like other members of its genus, the big-eye frogfish is benthic. This species is primarily an inhabitant of mud bottoms. It is commonly taken by shrimp trawlers in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and it is frequently found in deeper portions of higher-salinity estuaries.
BEHAVIOR
Unknown.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Like other frogfishes and most other anglerfishes, the big-eye frogfish is a voracious ambush predator and will take any prey it can capture.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Unknown.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. A significant death rate may result from those that are taken as bycatch by shrimp trawlers.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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