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Yellow-striped Leatherjacket
Meuschenia flavolineata Hutchins, 1977
A male Yellow-striped Leatherjacket at a depth of 12m, Pebbly Beach, Montague Island, New South Wales, January 2000. Photo © E. Schlögl. View larger image.
A female Yellow-striped Leatherjacket at a depth of 16m, north-east of Bowen Island, Jervis Bay, New South Wales, March 2001. Photo © E. Schlögl. View larger image.
A Yellow-striped Leatherjacket at a depth of 16 m, 'Hanging Rock', The Docks, Jervis Bay, New South Wales, April 2005. Photo © D. & L. Atkinson. View larger image.
The Yellow-striped Leatherjacket is black-brown to green-brown with a yellow blotch on the caudal peduncle. This blotch often extends forward along the side of the body as a yellow stripe in fish from Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Fish from New South Wales rarely have a stripe.
There are four spines on the caudal peduncle. In males these are curved and preceded by a patch of bristles. The spines are smaller in females and juveniles.
This species grows to 30 cm in length.
It is endemic to (only found in) Australia. It is recorded from coastal reefs of the central coast of New South Wales, around the south of the country and north to the central coast of Western Australia.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Edgar, G.J. 1997. Australian Marine Life: the plants and animals of temperate waters. Reed Books. Pp. 544.
- Hutchins, J.B. in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & R.H. Kuiter (Eds). 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. State Print, Adelaide. Pp. 992.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Kuiter, R.H. 2000. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Gary Allen. Pp. 437.
