''Cantherhines macrocerus'', commonly known as the whitespotted filefish or American whitespotted filefish, is a marine fish found along the coast of
Florida extending southward into the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. This species is distinct and separate from ''
Cantherhines dumerilii
''Cantherhines dumerilii'' is a species of fish in the family Monacanthidae, the filefishes. Its common names include whitespotted filefish, barred filefish, orange-fin file, and yelloweye leatherjacket.Froese, R. and D. Pauly, EdsCommon names of ...
'', the similarly named whitespotted filefish which is found in the
Indian and
Pacific oceans
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
.
Description
The American whitespotted filefish typically has a brown or olive colored body, although it may also be grey. These fish can rapidly change appearance to a high contrast color pattern with a much darker background and many light colored spots With a maximum length of around 18 inches, they are smaller than the
scrawled filefish
''Aluterus scriptus'', commonly known as scrawled filefish, broomtail filefish or scribbled leatherjacket, is a marine fish belonging to the family Monacanthidae.
Distribution
This species has a circumtropical repartition, it can be found in ...
which is also found in their range. The American whitespotted filefish is often seen in pairs.
Diet
These fish are
omnivorous; although they eat animals like sponges,
stinging coral
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-ear ...
and
gorgonians, and algae.
As aquarium fish
The American whitespotted filefish can be kept in large aquariums. These fish are non-aggressive, need plenty of places to hide, and will eat
brine shrimp,
krill and
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
.
References
External links
* - ReefGuide's whitespotted filefish photos showing animals with and without spots
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q304407
Monacanthidae
Fish described in 1853