Centreboard Leatherjacket

Monacanthus chinensis

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth2–28 m
Water temperature16–29 °C
Best monthsOctober
How commonOccasional

About this species

Monacanthus chinensis, commonly known as the fan-bellied leatherjacket or fantail leatherjacket, is a species of filefish native to the western Pacific Ocean and the eastern Indian Ocean where it is found on reefs and soft sediments at shallow depths. This species grows to a total length of 40 centimetres (16 in).

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

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 22 records
February: 37 records
March: 87 records
April: 45 records
May: 117 records
June: 54 records
July: 36 records
August: 45 records
September: 101 records
October: 249 records
November: 37 records
December: 51 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–28 m · Deepest record: 135 m

0–10 m: 109 records
10–20 m: 31 records
20–30 m: 27 records
30–40 m: 9 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 4 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 16–29 °C

14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 8 records
20–22 °C: 59 records
22–24 °C: 93 records
24–26 °C: 13 records
26–28 °C: 27 records
28–30 °C: 23 records

Names and classification

English: Centreboard Leatherjacket, Fan-bellied Filefish, Fan-bellied Leather-jacket, Fan-bellied Leatherjacket, Fanbellied Leatherjacket, Fanbelly Filefish, Fan-belly Leatherjacket, Fanbelly Leatherjacket, Fan-tailed Leatherjacket, Fantail Leatherjacket, fringed filefish, Pigfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Chinesischer Fächerbauch
Spanish: Pez Lija China
Japanese: Morokoshihagi, モロコシハギ
Thai: ปลางัวหางพัด
Simplified Chinese: 中华单角鲀, 中華單棘魨, 中華單角魨, 中華角鈍, 剝皮魚, 沙鯭

Other scientific names: Balistes chinensis, Balistes granulosus, Balistes mylii, Monacanthus cantoris, Monacanthus macrolepis, Monacanthus mylii

Similar species

Leatherjacket
Aluterus monoceros
Scrawled filefish
Aluterus scriptus
Broom filefish
Amanses scopas
Barred filefish
Cantherhines dumerilii
Honeycomb filefish
Cantherhines pardalis
Sandwich Isle file
Cantherhines sandwichiensis

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).
1,710 open-data records from 1765 to 2023.

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