Sargassumfish
Amazing fact
To escape predators, the sargassumfish can leap out of the water onto floating seaweed.
Florida Museum of Natural History
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
To escape predators, the sargassumfish can leap out of the water onto floating seaweed.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Sargassumfish
- Scientific name
- Histrio histrio
- Japanese name
- ハナオコゼ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Lophiiformes
- Family
- Antennariidae
- Genus
- Histrio
Where the name “Sargassumfish” comes from
Its genus name comes from a Latin word meaning related to actors.
Florida Museum of Natural HistoryA relative of the frogfishes, it lives in the seas around Japan, across the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and in the western Atlantic too.
It lives clinging to drifting seaweed that floats from near the shore out to the open sea.
How the Sargassumfish lives
It uses the swelling at the tip of a rod-like projection as a lure to attract prey. It eats shrimp and fish that gather among floating sargassum seaweed. It waits until food reaches its mouth, then quickly swallows it whole. It moves slowly through floating seaweed, using its pectoral and pelvic fins like limbs.
Florida Museum of Natural History東京動物園協会Basic data
- Range
- Hokkaido to southern Kyushu, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Indo-West Pacific, Hawaiian Islands, western Atlantic, and elsewhere
Where the Sargassumfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ハナオコゼ
- 简体中文
- 裸躄鱼
- 繁體中文
- 裸躄魚
- 한국어
- 노랑씬벵이
- Español
- Pez de los Sargazos
- Français
- Baudroie
- Deutsch
- Sargassofisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-sapo-do-sargaço
- Italiano
- Arlecchino dei Sargassi
- العربية
- دحنسة مجذعة
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Ikan Sargassum
- Русский
- Саргассовый морской клоун
- ไทย
- ปลากบสาหร่าย
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ハナオコゼChecked: 2026-11-04
- 東京動物園協会 — 擬態の名人2──ハナオコゼChecked: 2026-11-07
- Florida Museum of Natural History — SargassumfishChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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