Devilfish (inimicinae) are venomous fish. They belong to the family of stonefish (synanceiidae). This one is stretching its ‘legs’.

Not so you think? Fish have fins! Check out the pectoral fins (first pair on the belly side) – two of their rays are detached from the fins. They are used by the fish to walk on the ground – like legs.

If you zoom into the photo, you’ll also notice that this grumpy pal has just had its lunch.

Here is the story for the photo:

I was searching a sea cucumber for emperor shrimps (imperator periclimenes) on a sandy ground. There was no sign of anything around the sea cucumber, so I put one elbow gently on the sandy ground to stabilize the camera for the macro shot. I took about 3 photos. Suddenly there was a dust cloud right between me and the sea cucumber – and there it was this amazing devil fish. It started walking around and I followed suit.

Luckily enough I had quickly reconfigured the camera and flashes immediately after the creature emerged. So when it stretched – which didn’t take longer than about 2 seconds – I was able to capture the pose above.

This shot was taken on the Philippines at one of the dive spots of the Pintuyan Dive Resort.