Painted Frogfish (Antennarius pictus)

The Painted Frogfish is a fiery red-orange ambush predator that looks more like an encrusting sponge than a fish. Instead of swimming, it walks across the rockwork on modified pectoral fins, deploying a built-in fishing lure to strike prey in under six milliseconds — the fastest gape in the vertebrate world.

Scarlet-phase A. pictus is one of the most coveted color morphs in the frogfish trade. Sourced from Philippine waters, fully acclimated, and feeding aggressively on enriched silversides.

WYSIWYG — 6 to 9 inches. The exact specimen pictured.