Am I seeing things?

[deepsea21]

As I've been working my way through 755 photos taken over our recent Dec. trip to Coz I came across this photo as my wife was trying to capture a Painted Elysia in the green seaweed. She missed it in this photo and caught it in another but as I looked at this photo of nothing... Is that a very juvenile frog fish on the lower left-hand side of this photo? I can see the black eye and it certainly has a frog fish shape... Doesn't appear to be just another piece of white coral rubble. Thoughts?

I've found hidden baby Splendid's in photos taken of their mothers in the past as I've reviewed and zoomed in on photos but if this is a juvenile frog fish this is pretty cool.

 

[deepsea21]

Cropped... As she was trying to take a pic of a Painted Elysia if this is a juvenile Frog Fish it couldn't be longer than about 1/2-3/4 of an inch.

 

[deepsea21]

Pic of a mature Frog Fish about 3" long taken in 2012 in Coz...

 

[RyanT]

I can understand why you would think that, it definitely looks frogfish(y). I'm going to vote no though. The posterior end is truncated such that I don't see a caudal fin. I also don't see a mouth. I think you've got a piece of rubble with a dark spot that makes it appear like a tiny frogfish. I could be entirely wrong, but I think it's just rubble.

 

[Christi]

I think it's entirely possible - there even appears to be the makings of a front dorsal fin or lure rod above the eye - can't really make out the bottom of "the body" enough to tell - but good eye regardless - I would not have seen that in the photo especially with the image being of a different subject - I do not see the painted Alyssa however - haha - maybe you cropped it out of the original and the cropped version

 

[deepsea21]

Zoomed way in... I see 2 eyes with symmetry and what could be a mouth, as well as a possible appendage/foot on the side perhaps? I think I should have been shooting at 16 MP instead of 8 MP to save space and increase write speed. Maybe that would have offered a little more clarity. It certainly seems to be a brighter white than the surrounding coral rubble and sand. Maybe it is a yet-to-be-discovered species. Or, maybe it's just coral rubble.