Smooth leatherjacket
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| Meuschenia scaber (Forster, 1801) |
The smooth leatherjacket or velvet leatherjacket, Meuschenia scaber, is a filefish of the genus Meuschenia, found off eastern Australia and all around New Zealand to depths of about 100 m, on rocky weedy reef areas. Its length is between 25 and 35 cm. In New Zealand it is simply known as "leatherjacket" as it is the only fish of this family commonly found there.
The smooth leatherjacket has an elongate diamond shaped body with a minute mouth and a fan shaped tail. There is a sharp retractable spine on top. The dorsal and anal fins, which are used for propulsion, are about the same size and are set back towards the tail. The tail is folded and not used in normal swimming. The whole body is enclosed in a tough skin studded with small sandpaper-like scales. The colour is variable but dull, from pale grey to dark grey-brown, often with mottling.
The smooth leatherjacket is the only fish in New Zealand that feeds mainly on encrusting animals, such as hydroids, barnacles, seaweeds, bryozoans, jellyfish, sea urchin spines, sponges, and ascidians. They are able to eat these organisms, some of which are hard or fibrous, because leatherjackets have sharp chisel-like teeth assisted by a lever mechanism in their jaw bones which enables them to exert tremendous pressure on the cutting edges.
Minute greenish juvenile smooth leatherjackets settle out of the plankton between December and April into the dense fronds of the common kelp Ecklonia radiata until they are about 10 cm long. They grow until reaching their adult size in less than 2 years, when growth stops, although they live for another few years.
Divers beware: they enjoy taking a nip out of exposed skin! They can be caught on a handline using a variety of baits, but are masters at removing the bait using their precision teeth and jaws, without the angler being aware. They are very good eating.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Meuschenia scaber (TSN 646154). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 19 March 2006.
- "Meuschenia scaber". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
