Redtail filefish

About this species

Pervagor melanocephalus is a filefish from the Indo-West Pacific. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 16 cm (6.3 in) in length.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Pervagor melanocephalus”, 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: 15 records
February: 20 records
March: 28 records
April: 11 records
May: 25 records
June: 23 records
July: 25 records
August: 11 records
September: 26 records
October: 34 records
November: 31 records
December: 15 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 4–35 m · Deepest record: 170 m

0–10 m: 11 records
10–20 m: 24 records
20–30 m: 12 records
30–40 m: 6 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 1 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 3 records
22–24 °C: 2 records
24–26 °C: 27 records
26–28 °C: 60 records
28–30 °C: 58 records

Photos

(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bernard DUPONT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pierre Pericard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Debra Baker, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Ditch Townsend, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Ben Costamagna, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Redtail filefish, Blackheaded Filefish, Black-headed Leather-jacket, Black-headed Leatherjacket, Blackheaded Leatherjacket, Blackhead Filefish, Blackhead Leatherjacket, Dark-headed Leatherjacket, Lace-finned Leatherjacket, redtail filefish

Names in 2 more languages

Japanese: Nuriwakekawahagi, ヌリワケカワハギ
Simplified Chinese: 紅尾皮剝魨, 紅尾砲彈, 黑头前角鲀, 黑頭前角單棘魨, 黑頭前角魨

Other scientific names: Acreichthys melanocephalus, Monacanthus melanocephalus, Stephanolepis melanocephalus

Similar species

Orangetail filefish
Pervagor aspricaudus
Blackbar filefish
Pervagor janthinosoma
Black-lined Filefish
Pervagor nigrolineatus
Leatherjacket
Aluterus monoceros
Scrawled filefish
Aluterus scriptus
Spiny-tailed Leatherjacket
Acanthaluteres brownii

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).
272 open-data records from 1902 to 2023.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.