Frogfish in Cozumel

[jlyle]

We had so much fun with batfish, I thought I would open a thread about frogfish. Although frogfish are common in other dive destinations, they are rarely seen in Cozumel. Over several hundred dives I've seen only six! How about you?

Here are the frogfish I have digital images of, from trips in 2004, 2009, and 2010:

 

[jlyle]

No one? Are frogfish rarer than batfish in Coz?

 

[BrewingDiver]

Always wanted to see them. But I didn't see any in your pictures among the sponges ; )

 

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Never saw one there..... next trip!

 

[deepsea21]

I've only seen one that DM Walter with Aqua Safari found for us. Cozumel could be littered with them for all I know but they are such masters of camo and look nothing like what you'd expect to be looking for I'm pretty certain for every one that someone spots they passed over hundres they missed. Spotting a Frogfish is a spectacular ability and a spectacular find. When veteran DM's spot one they make sure all in the dive party see it as they are great finds and great finds = great tips and reputations. They told me Frogfish also don't move much so when one is found the DM can usually take other divers over several days and find the same fish in the same small area (still very tough to fidn even of you know where it should be!).

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Hate to admit it but in thousands of dives here…never saw one. Thanks for the photos.


Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

 

[Mossman]

 

[imoto]

Dang! I didn't think they were that tiny!

 

[jlyle]

The largest one we've seen in Cozumel was about six inches long and we were able to locate it three years running although we had to look for it further and further south each year. Mossman's frogfish is really cryptic; unless it moved, I doubt I would have known it was a fish.

 

[ColoDale]

Never seen frogfish in Cozumel. Only in Fiji. Though our DM in Coz says he has seen them and heard of some locations during our trips, we were not able to find them/it. I will have to make a point of asking to go look for them depending on who is on the boat. He seems better at finding seahorses and pipefish/horses.