Broom filefish
Encyclopedia
The broom filefish, Amanses scopas, is a filefish
, the only species in the genus
Amanses of the family
Monacanthidae. It is also called brush-sided leatherjacket (Australia
) or broom leatherjacket (Christmas Island
).
The broom filefish is a harmless tropical reef fish from the Red Sea
and the Indo-Pacific
oceans, growing to a length of 20 cm. The body is brown with up to 12 narrow dark brown crossbars, the caudal fin is dark brown, and the soft dorsal
, anal and pectoral fins are pale. Males have numerous long spines in front of the caudal peduncle, and females similarly have a toothbrush-like mass of setae in the same location.
They occur in areas of mixed sand
, rubble, and coral heads of semi-protected seaward reef
s.
Filefish
Filefish are tropical to subtropical tetraodontiform marine fish of the diverse family Monacanthidae. Found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, the filefish family contains approximately 107 species in 26 genera...
, the only species in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Amanses of the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Monacanthidae. It is also called brush-sided leatherjacket (Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
) or broom leatherjacket (Christmas Island
Christmas Island
The Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
).
The broom filefish is a harmless tropical reef fish from the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
and the Indo-Pacific
Indo-Pacific
The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...
oceans, growing to a length of 20 cm. The body is brown with up to 12 narrow dark brown crossbars, the caudal fin is dark brown, and the soft dorsal
Dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...
, anal and pectoral fins are pale. Males have numerous long spines in front of the caudal peduncle, and females similarly have a toothbrush-like mass of setae in the same location.
They occur in areas of mixed sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
, rubble, and coral heads of semi-protected seaward reef
Reef
In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....
s.