All Topics  
Filefish

 
Filefish

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Filefish
 
 
  Topics Filefish Topic Home

Filefish (also known as foolfish, leatherjackets or shingles) are tropical to subtropical tetraodontiform marine fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 of the diverse family Monacanthidae. Found in the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Pacific
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
s, the filefish family contains approximately 107 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 in 26 genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
. Filefish are closely related to the triggerfish
Triggerfish

Triggerfishes are brightly colored fish of the family Balistidae. Often marked by lines and spots, they inhabit warm coastal waters of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific....
, pufferfish
Pufferfish

Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, and toadies....
 and trunkfish.

Their laterally compressed bodies and rough, sandpapery skin inspired the filefish's common name; it is said that dried filefish skin was once used to finish wooden boats.

Physical description
Appearing somewhat like squashed trunkfish, filefish are oddly-shaped fish often with dazzlingly cryptic patterns.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Filefish'
Start a new discussion about 'Filefish'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Filefish (also known as foolfish, leatherjackets or shingles) are tropical to subtropical tetraodontiform marine fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 of the diverse family Monacanthidae. Found in the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
, Pacific
Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
 and Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean ....
s, the filefish family contains approximately 107 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 in 26 genera
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
. Filefish are closely related to the triggerfish
Triggerfish

Triggerfishes are brightly colored fish of the family Balistidae. Often marked by lines and spots, they inhabit warm coastal waters of the Atlantic, Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific....
, pufferfish
Pufferfish

Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish. The family includes many familiar species which are variously called puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish, and toadies....
 and trunkfish.

Their laterally compressed bodies and rough, sandpapery skin inspired the filefish's common name; it is said that dried filefish skin was once used to finish wooden boats.

Physical description


Appearing somewhat like squashed trunkfish, filefish are oddly-shaped fish often with dazzlingly cryptic patterns. Deeply keeled bodies give a false impression of size when these fish are viewed facing the flanks. Filefish have soft, simple fins with comparatively small pectoral fins and truncated, fan-shaped tail fins; a slender, retractable spine crowns the head. Although there are usually two of these spines, the second spine is greatly reduced, being used only to lock the first spine in the erect position; this explains the family name Monacanthidae, from the Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 monos meaning "one" and akantha meaning "thorn". Some species also have recurved spines on the base of the tail (caudal peduncle).

The small terminal mouths of filefish have specialized incisor teeth on the upper and lower jaw; in the upper jaw there are four teeth in the inner series and six in the outer series; in the lower jaw, there are 4-6 in an outer series only. The snout is tapered and projecting; eyes are located high on the head. Although scaled, some filefish have such small scales as to appear scaleless. Like the triggerfish, filefish have small gill
Gill

A gill is an anatomical structure found in many aquatic ecosystem organisms. It is a respiration organ whose function is the extraction of oxygen from water and the excretion of carbon dioxide....
 openings and greatly elongated pelvic bones creating a "dewlap" of skin running between the bone's sharply keeled termination and the belly. The pelvis is articulated with other bones of the "pelvic girdle" and is capable of moving upwards and downwards in many species to form a large dewlap (this is used to make the fish appear much deeper in the body than is actually the case). Some filefish erect the dorsal spine and pelvis simultaneously to make it more difficult for a predator to remove the fish from a cave.

The largest filefish species is the scrawled filefish
Scrawled filefish

The scrawled filefish, Aluterus scriptus, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae. Its length is up to 1.1 m, and it is found on tropical reefs circumglobally to a depth of 120 m....
 (Aluterus scriptus) at up to 110 centimetres in length; most species are below 60 centimetres in length. There is marked sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include color , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks....
 in some species, with the sexes possessing different coloration, different body shapes, and the males with larger caudal spines and bristles.

Habitat and life history


American Whitespotted Filefish
Adult filefish are generally shallow water fish, inhabiting depths of no more than about 30 metres. They may be found in lagoon
Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of comparatively shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the deeper sea by a shallow or exposed Bar , reef, or similar feature....
s or associated with seaward reef
Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a Rock , bar , or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water .Many reefs result from abiotic processes?deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes?but the best-known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes do...
s and seagrass
Seagrass

Seagrasses are flowering plants from one of four plant families , which grow in marine , fully-saline water environments....
 beds; some species may also enter estuaries
Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
. Some species are closely associated with dense mats of sargassum
Sargassum

Sargassum is a genus of generally planktonic macroalgae in the order Fucales. It is named for the Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea, which hosts a large amount of several species of Sargassum....
, a particularly ubiquitous "sea weed"; these filefish, notably the planehead filefish (Stephanolepis hispidus) are also coloured and patterned to match their weedy environments.

Either solitary, in pairs or small groups depending on the species, filefish are not terribly good swimmers; their small fins confine the fish to a sluggish gait. Filefish are often observed drifting head downward amongst stands of seaweed, presumably in an effort to fool both predator and prey alike. When threatened, filefish may retreat to crevices in the reef.

The feeding habits of filefish vary among the species, with some eating only algae and seagrass; others also eat small benthic invertebrate
Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
s, such as tunicate
Tunicate

Tunicate, also known as urochordata, tunicata is the subphylum of a group of underwater saclike filter feeders with incurrent and excurrent Siphon s, that are members of the phylum Chordata....
s, gorgonians, and hydrozoa
Hydrozoa

Hydrozoa are a taxonomic Class of very small, predatory animals which can be solitary or colonial and which mostly live in saltwater. A few genera within this class live in freshwater....
ns; and some species eat coral
Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
s (corallivores). It is the latter two habits which have largely precluded the introduction of filefish into the aquarium
Aquarium

An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. fishkeeping use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants....
 hobby.

Filefish spawn at bottom sites prepared and guarded by the males; both he and the female may guard the brood, or the male alone, depending on the species. The young filefish are pelagic
Pelagic zone

Any water in the sea that is not close to the bottom is in the pelagic zone. The word pelagic comes from the Greek language p??a??? or p?lagos, which means open sea....
; that is, they frequent open water. Sargassum provides a safe retreat for many species, both fish and weed being at the current's mercy. Juvenile filefish are at risk from predation by tuna
Tuna

Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tunas are fast swimmers?they have been clocked at 70 km/h ?and include several species that are warm-blooded....
 and dolphinfish.

Filefish as food


Filefish is a popular snack food in Korea. It is typically dried and made into a sweet and salty jerky
Jerky (food)

Jerky is meat that has been cut into strips trimmed of fat, marinated in a spicy, salty or sweet liquid and then dried with low heat or occasionally salted and sun-dried....
, which is then roasted before eating.

Species


  • Genus Acanthaluteres
  • Genus Acreichthys
  • Genus Aluterus
    • Dotterel filefish, Aluterus heudelotii Hollard, 1855
    • Aluterus maculosus Richardson, 1840
    • Unicorn leatherjacket
      Unicorn leatherjacket

      The unicorn leatherjacket, Aluterus monoceros, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae, found circumglobally in subtropical oceans between latitudes 43? N and 35? S, at depths down to 50 metre....
      , Aluterus monoceros (Linnaeus, 1758)
    • Orange filefish, Aluterus schoepfii (Walbaum, 1792)
    • Scrawled (scribbled) filefish, Aluterus scriptus (Osbeck, 1765)
    • Aluterus velutinus Jenyns, 1842
  • Genus Amanses
    • Broom filefish
      Broom filefish

      The broom filefish, Amanses scopas, is a filefish, the only species in the genus Amanses of the family Monacanthidae. It is also called brush-sided leatherjacket or broom leatherjacket ....
      , brush-sided leatherjacket, or broom leatherjacket, Amanses scopas
  • Genus Anacanthus
  • Genus Brachaluteres
  • Genus Cantherhines
  • Genus Cantheschenia
  • Genus Chaetodermis
  • Genus Colurodontis
  • Genus Enigmacanthus
  • Genus Eubalichthys
  • Genus Lalmohania
  • Genus Meuschenia
    • Smooth leatherjacket
      Smooth leatherjacket

      The smooth leatherjacket or velvet leatherjacket, Meuschenia scaber, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae, found off eastern Australia and all around New Zealand to depths of about 100 metre, on rocky weedy reef areas....
      , Meuschenia scaber
  • Genus Monacanthus
  • Genus Nelusetta
    • Chinaman-leatherjacket
      Chinaman-leatherjacket

      The chinaman-leatherjacket or ocean leatherjacket, Nelusetta ayraud, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae, found around Australia over the continental shelf, to depths of about 360 m....
      , Nelusetta ayraud
  • Genus Oxymonacanthus
    • Orange spotted filefish
      Orange spotted filefish

      The orange spotted filefish or harlequin filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris, is a filefish in the family Monacanthidae found on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific Oceans....
       or harlequin filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris
  • Genus Paraluteres
    Paraluteres

    Paraluteres is a genus in the filefish family ....
    • Paraluteres arqat
    • Blacksaddle filefish
      Blacksaddle filefish

      The blacksaddle filefish, Paraluteres prionurus, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae. It reaches a length of a maximum 11 cm.The blacksaddle filefish are found in pairs or in small schools and inhabit reefs across the Indian and Pacific oceans....
      , Paraluteres prionurus
  • Genus Paramonacanthus
  • Genus Pervagor
  • Genus Pseudalutarius
  • Genus Pseudomonacanthus
    Pseudomonacanthus

    Pseudomonacanthus is a genus in the filefish family ....
    • Four-banded leatherjacket, Pseudomonacanthus elongatus Fraser-Brunner, 1940
    • Strap-weed filefish
      Strap-weed filefish

      The strap-weed filefish, Pseudomonacanthus macrurus, is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae. It reaches a maximum length of 18 centimetre....
      , Pseudomonacanthus macrurus (Bleeker, 1857)
    • Pot-bellied leatherjacket, Pseudomonacanthus peroni (Hollard, 1854)
  • Genus Rudarius
  • Genus Scobinichthys
  • Genus Stephanolepis
  • Genus Thamnaconus


See also

  • List of fish common names
    List of fish common names

    This is a list of fish common names. While some common names refer to a single species or family , others have been used for a confusing variety of different types; the articles listed here should explain the possibilities if the name is ambiguous....
  • List of fish families
    List of fish families

    This is a list of fish family sorted alphabetically by scientific name.#A - #B - #C - #D - #E-F - #E-F -#G - #H - #I-K - #I-K - #I-K -#L - #M - #N - #O - #P - #R - #S - #T - #U-Z - #U-Z - #U-Z - #U-Z - #U-Z - #U-Z...


External links