Pineapple Fish / Pine Cone Fish

[Searcaigh]

I am a bit confused with this fish as they appear to have two different Latin names, but look remarkably similar and the same species.

I have seen it listed as Monocentris japonica (Debelius Indian Ocean Fish Guide and Wikipedia) as well as Cleidopus gloriamaris!

Anyone with enough knowledge to differentiate them.

I have seen some examples off the east coast of UAE (photograph above) as well as off Natal in South Africa

 

[Jim Greenfield]

I checked this out on Fishbase and I agree, they are very similar. However, Fishbase says that C. gloriamaris, the Pineapplefish, is restricted to Australia and M japonica, the pineconefish, is found in the regions you mention. I hope the following Fishbase links work:
Monocentris japonica, Pineconefish : aquarium
Cleidopus gloriamaris, Pineapplefish : aquarium
There is a slight differnce in the scale patterns if you look at the pics closely but whether this is a valid way of sorting them out I have no idea

 

[ocdiver1]

What an incredible fish..they had been on my "list" forever until i finally saw some on my last trip at Aliwal in South Africa. They sure are hard to photograph!

 

[Searcaigh]

Thanks for the links Jim.

ocdiver, I also photographed one example at T-Barge off Umhlanga, Natal, S. Africa back in 1997.

From the distribution map, I would have to agree that the ones I have seen and photographed are Monocentris japonica

 

[clownfishsydney]

Pineapplefish (knightfish) are regularly seen in Sydney. At the moment, there are five at a dive site called Shiprock where they have been for most of this year. A brilliant fish, especially at night when they emit a blue glow from near each eye. Our species is Cleidopus gloriamaris but looks almost identical as far as I can see.

 

[Searcaigh]

Seeing them at night would certainly be interesting, but I guess difficult to photograph the glow!