Watch the video: Quick eye test: Can you spot the camouflaged fish?
This shot is from a famous reef off the coast of Zanzibar.
Bet you don’t recognize the fish in this picture!
When we let the video run, we suddenly see teeth, a mouth and finally the animal itself.
The fish is a frogfish. These fish are true masters of deception. Due to their shapeless shape and color, they are so well camouflaged that we cannot distinguish them from an overgrown stone, a coral or even a sponge.
Frogfish even adapt their color to the environment. Camouflage is the name of the technique of deception and frogfish use it both for hunting and to protect themselves from predators.
Frogfish are also extremely unusual and fascinating animals in other ways. They mostly move around walking and can stretch their mouths to twelve times their size. This allows them to eat animals twice their size.