Antennarius was first proposed as a genus in 1816 by the French naturalist François Marie Daudin with Lophius chironectes being designated as its type species in 1856 by Pieter Bleeker.

[1] Lophius chironectes was a binomial authored twice, once by Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1798 and again by Pierre André Latreille in 1804, it is not clear which is the type species of this genus.

[3] However, the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not recognise subfamilies within the Antennariidae, classifying the family within the suborder Antennarioidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes.

[4] Antennarius suffixes -ius to antenna, an allusion to first dorsal spine being adapted into a tentacle on the snout used as a lure to attract prey.

[6] Antennarius frogfishes are cosmopolitan in coastal waters in tropical and subtropical oceans, although they are most diverse in the Indo-West Pacific region.