- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Ray-finned Fishes
- ›Spiny-rayed fishes
- ›Puffers and Filefishes
- ›Triggerfishes, Boxfishes, and Filefishes
- ›Filefishes
- ›Acreichthys
Bristle-tail Leatherjacket
Acreichthys tomentosus
Acreichthys tomentosus, commonly known as the bristle-tail filefish or Aiptasia-eating filefish, is a species of demersal marine fish which belongs to the family Monacanthidae and is widespread throughout the tropical waters of the Indo-west Pacific. It is a small fish that can reach a maximum size of 12 cm (4.7 in) length and has the ability to rapidly change color and skin texture and patterns as to avoid detection and consequently predation. It is oviparous.
From the article Acreichthys tomentosus on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
On average, it ranges from 3.8 to 8.9 cm (1.5 to 3.5 in) in length. It has 27-30 anal spines and 26-29 anal soft rays.
Range & habitat
It is found in the waters around Sri Lanka, Ishigaki island, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea, Queensland, New Caledonia, and Tonga. It inhabits shallow coral reefs, preferring sections of the reef which contain seagrass. It prefers temperatures of 27.6–29 °C (81.7–84.2 °F), a dissolved oxygen concentration of 4.51-4.59 mL/L (4510-4590 ppm), and a depth of 2–15 m (6.6–49.2 ft).
Human Interaction. It is commonly kept in aquaria as a member of the clean-up crew for its willingness to eat Aiptasia anemones, a common aquarium pest.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and Ecology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Acreichthys tomentosus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 338159.