''Stephanolepis cirrhifer'', commonly known as the thread-sail filefish, is a species of

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

fish in the family Monacanthidae. It is found in the western

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, in an area that ranges from northern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

to the

East China Sea The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...

, to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. Other common names for the fish include (Japanese) and “쥐치” "Jwi-chi" (Korean). The fish grows to a maximum length of about , and consumes both plant material and small marine organisms like

skeleton shrimp Caprellidae is a family of amphipods commonly known as skeleton shrimps. Their common name denotes the threadlike slender body which allows them to virtually disappear among the fine filaments of seaweed, hydroids and bryozoans. They are sometim ...

. ''S. cirrhifer'' is host of the

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

'' Peniculus minuticaudae''. Some minor genetic differentiation between ''S. cirrhifer'' born in the wild and those bred in a hatchery for consumer use has been shown. The fish is edible and sold commercially for culinary purposes in many Asian countries.

Taxonomy

The fish was first described in 1850 by

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...

and

Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimula ...

, when it was observed along with other fauna off the coasts of Japan. They initially placed it in the genus '' Monacanthus'', as ''Monacanthus cirrhifer''; however, it was transferred to the genus ''

Stephanolepis ''Stephanolepis'' is a genus of bony fish in the family Monacanthidae, the filefishes. Members of this genus are unusual-shaped fish and have a very rough skin which gives them their common name. They are laterally flattened and deep bodied wit ...

'' by

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

and

Henry Weed Fowler Henry Weed Fowler (March 23, 1878 – June 21, 1965) was an American zoologist born in Holmesburg, Pennsylvania. He studied at Stanford University under David Starr Jordan. He joined the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and worked as ...

in 1903. The

species name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

derives from the Latin word ''cirrhifer'', which means "bearing fringes of hair". Other common names: *Japanese - Kawahagi *Korean - Jwi-chi *English - File fish, Fool fish, Porky *Russian - Small striped triggerfish (Спинорог малый полосатый)

Description and habitat

Thread-sail filefish grow to a maximum adult length of about . The first dorsal fin is a strong retractable (folding backwards) spine. The second dorsal fin and anal fin are soft. They have comparatively small pectoral fins and truncated, fan-shaped tail fins. The dorsal and anal fins are colorless. Their second dorsal, anal and caudal fins rounded. In males, 1-3 soft dorsal fin rays extended as filaments; the first ray has a particularly long thread. The fish have a small abdominal spike. The fish are colored from light brown, to grayish- to light greenish-beige, and are slightly patterned with irregular, broken stripes that range from medium brown to blackish. Juveniles of the species usually seek shelter and safety from

predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

s within clusters of drifting

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

. The adult thread-sail filefish usually reside near the

seabed The seabed (also known as the seafloor, sea floor, ocean floor, and ocean bottom) is the bottom of the ocean. All floors of the ocean are known as 'seabeds'. The structure of the seabed of the global ocean is governed by plate tectonics. Most of ...

, where the depth is around . The fish migrate wholly in ocean waters ( "oceanodromous") between their feeding and

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquati ...

grounds, which can cover a range of over . The spawning season lasts from May to August. Juveniles under inhabit shallow water and feed on small crustaceans, mollusks and algae. Adult fish are mostly solitary and live among the coral and seaweeds.

Ecology

The thread-sail filefish is an

omnivore An omnivore () is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize the nutr ...

, and can feed on plant or animal matter. Its diet includes

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwat ...

, but consists mainly of

amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...

such as

gammarids Gammaridae is a family of amphipods. In North America they are included among the folk taxonomic category of " scuds", and otherwise gammarids is usually used as a common name. They have a wide distribution, centered on Eurasia, and are eury ...

and

, as well as the

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the orde ...

species ''

Zostera marina ''Zostera marina'' is a flowering vascular plant species as one of many kinds of seagrass, with this species known primarily by the English name of eelgrass with seawrack much less used, and refers to the plant after breaking loose from the submer ...

''. The fish also feeds upon smaller organisms, including

bryozoa Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about long, they have a special feeding structure called a l ...

ns and some species of serpulid tube worms. Thread-sail filefish feed on fish, amphipods, isopods, cirripeds, polychaetes, pelecypods, seaweeds such as those of the genus ''

Sargassum ''Sargassum'' is a genus of brown (class Phaeophyceae) macroalgae (seaweed) in the order Fucales. Numerous species are distributed throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world, where they generally inhabit shallow water and coral re ...

''; and gelatinous plankton, such as the moon jellyfish ''Aurelia sp''. and the giant jellyfish ''Nemopilema nomurai''. ''S. cirrhifer'' is host of the pennellid

copepod Copepods (; meaning "oar-feet") are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (inhabiting sea waters), some are benthos, benthic (living on the ocean floor) ...

'' Peniculus minuticaudae'', which mostly infects the fins of the female fish.

Uses

The thread-sail filefish is cultured and sold commercially as food in Asian countries, including

and

. In Korea it is used as an ingredient for

jwipo Jwipo ( ko, 쥐포) is a traditional Korean pressed fish jerky sold as a street snack. Made from the filefish (or Jwichi), it is seasoned, flattened, and dried. Jwichi meat has a subtle sweet flavor, but jwipo's sweetness comes from added sugar. I ...

. The demand for the fish in Korea is very high, and

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

often employ the services of

fish hatcheries A fish hatchery is a place for artificial breeding, hatching, and rearing through the early life stages of animals—finfish and shellfish in particular.Crespi V., Coche A. (2008) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Gloss ...

for

breeding Breeding is sexual reproduction that produces offspring, usually animals or plants. It can only occur between a male and a female animal or plant. Breeding may refer to: * Animal husbandry, through selected specimens such as dogs, horses, and rab ...

more of the fish to supplement and enhance the supply of stock. This has been done to such a degree that as many as 95

allele An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution. ::"The chro ...

s have been found to be unique to one of the populations, resulting from minor

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individuals ...

in certain genes that occur exclusively within either population; genetic differentiation between ''S. cirrhifer'' born in the wild and those bred in a hatchery has apparently occurred.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1073453 Monacanthidae Fish described in 1850