Family MONACANTHIDAE


Common name: Leatherjackets

Silhouette

Summary:

Small to moderate sized fishes with an oval to circular compressed body, tough leathery skin covered in rough spines and a prominent depressible spine over the eye that can locked in an upright position by a tiny second dorsal-fin spine.

Leatherjackets have a small mouth, a small gill slit, and long-based soft dorsal and anal fins. Pelvic fins are absent, or reduced to a bony element fused to the rear of the pelvic bone.

The groups is most diverse in Australian waters, with 58 species in 23 genera – more than half the known species worldwide.


Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2023, Leatherjackets, MONACANTHIDAE in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/family/250

References


Hutchins, J.B. 1977. Descriptions of three new genera and eight new species of monacanthid fishes from Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 5(1): 3-58 figs 1-13

Hutchins, J.B. 1986. Review of the monacanthid fish genus Pervagor, with descriptions of two new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes 12: 1-35 11 figs 2 pls

Hutchins, J.B. 1988. The comparative morphology and phylogeny of the monacanthid fishes. Unpublished PhD thesis, Murdoch University, Western Australia.

Hutchins, J.B. 1994. Family Monacanthidae. pp. 866-891 figs 767-787 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

Hutchins, J.B. 1997. Review of the monacanthid fish genus Paramonacanthus, with descriptions of three new species. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 54: 1-57 figs 1-32

Hutchins, J.B. 2001. Monacanthidae. pp. 3929-3947 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 6 pp. 3381-4218.

Hutchins, J.B. 2008. Family Monacanthidae. pp. 822-841 in Gomon. M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Hutchins, J.B. & Swainston, R. 1985. Revision of the monacanthid fish genus Brachaluteres. Records of the Western Australian Museum 12(1): 57-78. PDF

Matsuura, K. 2014. Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period 1980 to 2014. Review for IPFC9 Special Issue. Ichthyological Research 62(1): 72-113. Open access DOI:10.1007/s10228-014-0444-5

Santini, F., Sorenson, L., Marcroft, T., Dornburg, A. & Alfaro, M.E. 2013. A multilocus molecular phylogeny of boxfishes (Aracanidae, Ostraciidae; Tetraodontiformes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66: 153-160.

Santini, F. & Tyler, J.C. 2003. A phylogeny of the families of fossil and extant tetraodontiform fishes (Acanthomorpha, Tetraodontiformes), Upper Cretaceous to Recent. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 139: 565-617.

Tyler, J.C. 1980. Osteology, phylogeny, and higher classification of the fishes of the order Plectognathi (Tetraodontiformes). National Marine Fisheries Service (U.S.) Technical Report 434: 1-422 figs 1-326

Winterbottom, R. 1974. The familial phylogeny of the Tetraodontiformes (Acanthopterygii : Pisces) as evidenced by their comparative myology. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 155: 1-102 figs 1-185