The “New” Lembeh Frogfish

In fairness, Teresa Zubi has always called the Ocellated frogfish the Lembeh Frogfish on her expansive and comprehensive web site www.frogfish.ch , which is very recommended to check out if you are into frogfish. So perhaps she had some influence with the name.

It is a very small frogfish and the main identifying feature is the orange / yellow / pale “O” eyespot (Ocellus) on the dorsal fin. Sometimes there is two on one side and only one on the other! Even three ocelli have been seen. I thought that we were finding them only in black until tan-coloured ones were seen from time to time. In the new description it seems that another identifying feature is the long “toes” and a prominent “fishing rod” (second dorsal spine). Using this description, I have attached the name to two rather different-looking specimens (below). Another feature (sometimes) is the presence of white skin shreds along the edge of the tail (look closely on the far bottom snapshot).

So now we must endeavor to apply this new name of Nudiantennarius subteres / Lembeh Frogfish and hopefully it will lead to more accurate identification of the myriad and messy variations within the numerous frogfish species we find in the strait.