In Reply to: Have you seen the Frog Fish in Laguna? posted by Rich on December 30, 2011 at 17:06:10:

Deb Karimoto posted this on her O.C. list;

A little lesson learned this morning… This froggie is not far out of range as I originally thought. I should have looked at more than one resource to determine what we’ve got here! I have the books but what good are they if I don’t open them???
While Humann & DeLoach say, “Uncommon to rare Gulf of California and Pacific Coast of Baja to Panama; also south to Peru including Cocos & Galapagos Islands”, Milton Love’s newest tome, Certainly More than You Want to Know About the Fishes of the Pacific Coast says clearly on page 190, “first specimen taken near Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island.” It says much more, too.

Milton told me this morning:
That is very cool. If it is Antenarius avalonis, that may be the first California mainland siting, they are occasionally seen at Catalina - that was where it was first observed and the reason it was named avalonis. I am not completely sure if it is that species, they are difficult to separate using photos, but that Identification is a reasonable supposition.
And Michael Miller of The Slug Site says, “Your frogfish is probably Antennarius avalonis first described by Jordan and Starks back in 1907 from a 13.5 inch specimen taken
at Avalon Harbor, Catalina. I have seen it in the Gulf of Mexico and possibly Puerto Vallarta.”

• Re: Re: Have you seen the Frog Fish in Laguna? Rich 19:51:52 12/30/11 (0)