Related FAQs: Filefishes, Filefish Identification, Filefish Behavior, Filefish Compatibility, Filefish Selection, Filefish Systems, Filefish Feeding, Filefish Disease, Filefish Reproduction, Tasseled Filefish, Filefishes eating Aiptasia, Orange-spotted Filefishes, Oxymonacanthus, Tasseled Filefishes, Related Articles: /The Conscientious Marine Aquarist Filefishes, Family Monacanthidae To: part I, part III

By Bob Fenner

Cantherhines macrocerus

Genus Cantherhines: Eleven species. Another commonly found genus in the wild and as pet-fish offerings.

Cantherhines dumerilii (Hollard 1854), the Whitespotted Filefish. Indo-Pacific. To fifteen inches maximum. Feeds on a variety of invertebrates including corals. A specimen chomping in the Andaman Sea off of Thailand, and one not eating corals in Hawai'i. Males darker with yellow caudals, females more or less overall grey to olive brown.

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Cantherhines fronticinctus (Gunther 1867); Spectacled Filefish. Indo-West Pacific. To 25 cm. Bali 2014.

Cantherhines macrocerus (Hollard 1854), the Orange Filefish in the pet trade is called the American Whitespotted Filefish in the sciences... unfortunately, in part because it occurs on both coasts of the tropical Atlantic. One of the more common Filefish offerings in the world of aquariums. To twenty-six inches in length. Images of six inch and eight inch individuals and one foot adult specimens in the Bahamas.

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Cantherhines pardalis Honeycomb or Wire-Net Filefish. To 25 cm. Indo-Pacific, East African coast, Red Sea. Mauritius 2016.

Cantherhines pullus (Ranzani 1842), the Orange-spotted Filefish. Tropical West Atlantic. To eight inches in length. A more common aquarium offering. One off the Bahamas, another with its single dorsal "trigger" up off Boynton Beach, FLA.

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Cantherhines sandwichensis (Quoy & Gaimard 1824), the Sandwich Isle Filefish. Eastern Central Pacific; Hawaii. To about 8".  Fr. Polynesia 2018

Genus Cantheschenia: Two species. Uncommon in the trade.

Cantheschenia grandisquamis Hutchins 1977, the Large-Scaled Leatherjacket. Western Pacific; Australia. To ten inches. A beauty for sure. Here off  of Heron Island, Queensland, Australia.

Genus Chaetodermis: Monotypic, the second most commonly offered member of the family for pet-fish use (besides Oxymonacanthus). This one typically lives!

Chaetodermis pencilligera (Cuvier 1816), the Prickly Leatherjacket. Indo-West Pacific. To twelve inches in length. A six inch specimen in an aquarium display, a ten inch one in N. Sulawesi.

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To: part I, part III