Aluterus scriptus (Scrawled filefish)

Identification

Long body, mottled to nearly uniform shades of grey, brown to olive. Irregular blue spot and line markings as well as black spots. It has a tall slender 1st dorsal spine. It is also called scribbled filefish.

Status

Unevaluated by the IUCN Red list, but considered to be common.

Habitat

Circumtropical. It lives in coastal areas, lagoons and outer reefs in a depth range of 2-80 meters. Occasionally are seen under floating objects. Juveniles may travel with weed rafts in the open ocean for a long time and reach a considerable size.

Reproduction

Scrawled filefish are normally solitary fish, but during spawning they gather. The females deposit their eggs among branching corals and they are quickly fertilized by the males. The eggs are not looked after, and hatch in large quantities.

Size

Up to 110cm, but normally around half that.

Prey / Predation

It feeds on algae, seagrass, hydrozoans, gorgonians, colonial anemones and tunicates.

Special features

They are said to cause ciguatera poisoning.