Photo Credit: NOAA
| Family | Scientific Name | Author | Year | Common Name |
| Monacanthidae | Aluterus scriptus | (Osbeck) | 1765 | Scrawled Filefish |
Aluterus scriptus
Unique Characters: Pelvic fin absent and without any obvious enlarged encasing scales (a rudimentary encasing scale sometimes present, but difficult to see with the unaided eye and not at end of pelvis). Dorsal-fin rays 43-50; anal-fin rays 46-52; pectoral-fin rays modally 14. Caudal peduncle deeper than long. Caudal fin relatively long, 33-61% standard length.
Similar Species:
Unicorn Filefish Aluterus monoceros
Orange Filefish
Aluterus schoepfii
Dotterel Filefish
Aluterus heudelotii
Unicorn Filefish Aluterus monoceros. Pelvic fin absent and without any obvious enlarged encasing scales (a rudimentary encasing scale sometimes present, but difficult to see with the unaided eye and not at end of pelvis). Dorsal-fin rays 43-50; anal-fin rays 46-52; pectoral-fin rays modally 14. Caudal peduncle longer than deep. Caudal fin relatively short, 18-26% standard length.
Orange Filefish Aluterus schoepfii. Pelvic fin absent and without any obvious enlarged encasing scales (a rudimentary encasing scale sometimes present, but difficult to see with the unaided eye and not at end of pelvis). Dorsal-fin rays 32-41; anal-fin rays 35-44; pectoral-fin rays modally 12 and 13. Distance between eye and dorsal-fin spine relatively large in specimens larger than 10 cm standard length, 7.3-13.5% standard length. Coloration of live specimens with few to many orange spots.
Dotterel Filefish Aluterus heudelotii. Pelvic fin absent and without any obvious enlarged encasing scales (a rudimentary encasing scale sometimes present, but difficult to see with the unaided eye and not at end of pelvis). Dorsal-fin rays 32-41; anal-fin rays 35-44; pectoral-fin rays modally 12 and 13. Distance between eye and dorsal-fin spine relatively small in specimens larger than 10 cm standard length, 4.6-6.6% standard length. Coloration of live specimens bluish purple
Gallery