Summary ⁵

Aluterus scriptus (known also as scrawled filefish, broomtail filefish, or scribbled leatherjacket) is a Marine fish belonging to the family Monacanthidae.

Description ⁶

  Common names: filefish (English), leatherjacket (English), lija (Espanol)
 
Aluterus scriptus (Osbeck, 1765)


Scrawled filefish,     Scrawled leatherjacket


Body a very compressed elongated oval a long pointed snout, upper and lower profiles strongly concave; a small mouth that  opens above center line; teeth moderately strong, six in outer row on top jaw and six or less on outer row on bottom jaw;  gill opening a short slit on side before pectoral base; II dorsal spines, 1st  long and slender, over eye, erectile, can be locked in position by small 2nd  spine; dorsal II, 43-49; anal 43-49; pectoral 13-15; median fins rays unbranched;  tail fin longer than snout, rounded, the back edge often ragged; tail base shorter than deep; scales minute, innumerable, equipped with small hairs, cover skin and give it a coarse texture like sand-paper; pelvic fins absent, no scales encasing area where pelvics should be; no patch of enlarged scales above pectoral base; lateral line inconspicuous.


Olive brown to grey with irregular blue spots and short lines and small black spots; pelagic juveniles  may be brown with dark spots.


Size: grows to 110 cm.

Inhabits coral and rocky reefs, the young are sometimes seen around floating debris, at a considerable distance away from land; feeds on algae, hydrozoans, gorgonians, anemones, and tunicates.

Depth: 0-120 m.

Circumtropical distribution; southern Baja and the mouth of the Gulf of California to Ecuador, and all the oceanic islands.
   

Distribution ⁷

circumtropical; Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada and northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil

Morphology ⁸

Dorsal spines (total): 2; Dorsal soft rays (total): 43 - 50; Analspines: 0; Analsoft rays: 46 - 52

Size ⁹

Maximum size: 1100 mm NG

Description ¹⁰

Occurs in lagoons and on seaward reefs. Solitary, often in open water (Ref. 9710). Feeds on algae, seagrasses, hydrozoans, gorgonians, colonial anemones, and tunicates. Juveniles and occasionallly adults are seen under floating objects (Ref. 1602). Generally common (Ref. 9710).

I dnature guides ¹¹

Identification key for shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific

Habitat ¹²

Known from seamounts and knolls

Diet ¹³

Feeds on algae, seagrass, hydrozoans, gorgonians, colonial anemones, and tunicates.

Reproduction ¹⁴

no information.

Link to Access Genomic Data ¹⁵

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=303710&lvl=0

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Dennis Polack, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.fishwisepro.com/pics/jpg/063249F000009W000016.jpg
2. (c) Biopix, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/PhotosMedium/JCS%20Aluterus%20scriptus%2035036.jpg
3. (c) Christopher Newbert, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.fishwisepro.com/pics/jpg/063249F000127W000012.jpg
4. (c) Biopix, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://www.biopix.com/PhotosMedium/JCS%20Aluterus%20scriptus%2035034.jpg
5. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluterus_scriptus
6. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) Shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific online information system. www.stri.org/sftep, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/26220147
7. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) WoRMS for SMEBD, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/28472411
8. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) FishBase, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/21009576
9. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) FishWise Professional, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/24196084
10. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) WoRMS for SMEBD, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/28495612
11. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) Discover Life and original sources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/11585744
12. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) WoRMS for SMEBD, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/28485858
13. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) WoRMS for SMEBD, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://eol.org/data_objects/28476822
14. Adapted by matbio from a work by (c) Gulf of Maine - CoML, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/8081285
15. (c) matbio, all rights reserved

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Atlas of Living Australia
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Fish Database of Taiwan
• FishBase
• FishSource
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• Maryland Biodiversity Project
• NatureServe Explorer 2.0
• VertNet
• World Register of Marine Species
• 日本のレッドデータ検索システム

Range Map

(c) Shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific online information system. www.stri.org/sftep, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC)

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