Psychedelic Frogfish still in Ambon?

[pataya1]

Dear board. it is 2024. The last activity about the Psychedelic Frogfish I can find is from 2018. Do you know, if he/she still lives in Ambon and or wether there was any recent reported sighting? I would love to see them.

All the best!

 

[Cali_diver]

deleted comment...

 

[living4experiences]

As a responsible diver, I would not share the location of a particular critter. That leads to poaching or killing the animal.

 

[matts1w]

This is one trend that should not be revisited. There was all kinds of sketch and garbage going on between dive guides and resorts so some dude could be handheld directly to a little critter, take a crappy photo, and act like that was some sort of amazing accomplishment. Let the psycho froggy be.

 

[JonnieB]

My understanding is Ambon is where the Psychedelic Frogfish can be found but they are very rare and only come up to the shallows certain months of the year.

 

[pataya1]

OP here.
If it's that rare, don't answer. My understanding was, globally they were rare, but plentiful in Ambon.
If it's close to extinction, keep your sightings private please!!

 

[JonnieB]

OP here.
If it's that rare, don't answer. My understanding was, globally they were rare, but plentiful in Ambon.
If it's close to extinction, keep your sightings private please!!

I believe the rarity is a function of their spending most of the time down deep and they only come up to recreational dive depths during spawning; not because they are endangered . They are a localized version of the Histiophryne frogfish genus, which are all rarely seen.

 

[Tippytoes12]

I saw, honestly, this one tiny little one, in February 2019. It was on the coral, and not the muck side of the bay.

 

[Cali_diver]

As a responsible diver, I would not share the location of a particular critter. That leads to poaching or killing the animal.

Thanks for saying this...I thought the same thing (but thought I should just keep to myself).. especially when I see someone who hasn't been active on this forum and joined the same day to ask this question. I've seen too many stories about Aquarists collecting info about these rare beauties and rhinopias on scuba forums. Best not to interact.