Behold the frogfish. This bizarre creature really is a fish, despite its bullfrog face, pectoral fins that look like webbed feet, and a froglike mouth that snaps up unsuspecting prey.
But the way it lures its prey is even weirder. Frogfish belong to the anglerfish family known as Antennariidae. Like their anglerfish cousins who lurk in the ocean’s depths, these ambush predators attract their next meal via an appendage on their heads that they use like a fishing lure. This appendage is known as the illicium and thought to have once been a dorsal fin. It has a specialized skin flap, the esca at the end. It tantalizes small fish and crustaceans into thinking it’s a worm until they come too close.
Källa: Frogfish reveals how it evolved the “fishing rod” on its head
