STRANGE FROGFISH-LIKE SPECIMEN FOUND
AT LA RIBERA BY MEXICAN FISHERMAN

Dec. 21, 2004, George Bergin, La Ribera, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico Frogfish species report:

Roberto Carlos Almanza brought me an unusual fish this morning. His father Ramon, a local fisherman, saw the fish floating near shore here in La Ribera yesterday and scooped it up.

I can't find anything like it in my books. It's not a stargazer. It has a huge gapping maw of a mouth, and the lower jaw juts out a couple of inches further than the upper. It looks like Antennarius avalonis, which is Pacific, and commersonii which is supposed to live in the Atlantic. I know it's a frogfish, but I just can't find the exact one.

The water temperature here is 73 degrees. The fish was floating, still alive I think, 150 feet from shore in 6 feet of water.