Quakerfish

Malacanthus brevirostris

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth12–54 m
Water temperature19–30 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and September
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Charlotte Kirchner, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Malacanthus brevirostris, the quakerfish, flagtail blanquillo, false whiting or stripetail tilefish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a tilefish belonging to the family Malacanthidae. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Malacanthus brevirostris”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 48 records
February: 77 records
March: 118 records
April: 142 records
May: 138 records
June: 86 records
July: 116 records
August: 122 records
September: 141 records
October: 132 records
November: 71 records
December: 55 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 12–54 m · Deepest record: 250 m

0–10 m: 40 records
10–20 m: 226 records
20–30 m: 331 records
30–40 m: 12 records
40–50 m: 8 records
50–60 m: 12 records
60–70 m: 4 records
70–80 m: 17 records
80–90 m: 32 records
90–100 m: 8 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 5 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 19–30 °C

18–20 °C: 1 records
20–22 °C: 9 records
22–24 °C: 13 records
24–26 °C: 264 records
26–28 °C: 42 records
28–30 °C: 238 records

Photos

no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Georgina Jones, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Rose Zappa, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) keesgroenendijk, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ewout Knoester, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Quakerfish, Banded Blanquillo, False Whiting, Flag-tail Blanquillo, Flagtail Blanquillo, Flagtail Tilefish, quakerfish, Shortnose Tilefish, Quakerfish, Stripetail Tilefish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Gestreifter Torpedobarsch
Spanish: blanquillo bandera
French: Matajuel nez-court, Matajuel nez-court, Poisson couvreur, Poisson couvreur à rostre court, Poisson-couvreur à rostre court
Japanese: Yaseamadai, ヤセアマダイ
Simplified Chinese: 短吻弱棘魚, 短吻弱棘鱼, 短吻軟棘魚, 軟棘魚, 黃鴛鴦

Other scientific names: Dikellorhynchus incredibilis, Malacanthus hoedti, Malacanthus hoedtii, Malacanthus parvipinnis

Similar species

Blue blanquillo
Malacanthus latovittatus
Blue-head Tilefish
Hoplolatilus starcki
Redback Sand Tilefish
Hoplolatilus marcosi
Purple Sand Tilefish
Hoplolatilus purpureus

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
1,078 open-data records from 1954 to 2024.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.

Log what you see on your next dive

The free DiveHive diver app keeps your logbook with every sighting and shows what lives at the site you dive next.

Join the waitlist