Antennatus linearis Randall & Holcum, 2001
This rarely-seen frogfish attains only about 2.5 inches. Although museum specimen photographs of small frogfishes with the same pattern were known previously, taken as far away as East Africa, they had been wrongly identified until Honolulu diver Ron Holcom caught a very small one of them off Kahe Point, Oahu, raised it in his aquarium to adult size, and then gave it to Dr. John Randall of the Bishop Museum. Dr. Randall and Ron described it as a new species in 2001. Specimens are known from East Africa, Indonesia, and Hawai`i. Above is the only good underwater photograph of a Lined Frogfish in its natural habitat that is known to me. It was found by Lindsey Lowe at Koloa Landing, south shore Kauai, in November 2013 and photographed by Anthony Kuntz of Five Fathom Divers. Below is another underwater photo, greatly enlarged, that I took of a very small Lined Frogfish (about 1/2 in. long) in July, 1995 at Kahe Point, Oahu, 6 years before the species was named.
