Aluterus monoceros
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources9 archives
Databases and archives Aluterus monoceros's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility1 924 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System8 689 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI65 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics72 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The unicorn leatherjacket (Aluterus monoceros) is a filefish of the family Monacanthidae, found around the world in subtropical oceans between latitudes 43° N and 35° S, at depths down to 50 m. Its length is up to 76 cm.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aluterus monoceros has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
Record type10 613 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions18 of 55 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 43 |
| Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record | 43 |
| Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 40 |
| Washington, US | 39 |
| DEWlocation not on record | 36 |
| National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korealocation not on record | 31 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 26 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 24 |
| Sydney, AU | 21 |
| Mutare Museumlocation not on record | 18 |
| Natick, US | 15 |
| Cambridge, US | 13 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 12 |
| Western Australian Museumlocation not on record | 12 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 9 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 9 |
| Paris, FR | 9 |
| New Haven, US | 7 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 6 |
| Cincinnati, US | 6 |
| Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulolocation not on record | 5 |
| PUC-RSlocation not on record | 4 |
| Instituto Oceanográfico del Pacífico, Secretaría de Marinalocation not on record | 3 |
| INMAlocation not on record | 3 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 3 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 2 |
| Toronto, CA | 2 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 2 |
| Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad Académica Mazatlán, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méxicolocation not on record | 2 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 2 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 2 |
| Instituto del Mar del Perulocation not on record | 1 |
| Geneva, CH | 1 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Morelia, MX | 1 |
| Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record | 1 |
| Centro Regional de Investigación Acuícola y Pesquera, Bahía de Banderas, Instituto Nacional de Pescalocation not on record | 1 |
| San Nicolás de los Garza, MX | 1 |
| 1 | |
| UNICAMPlocation not on record | 1 |
| Louisiana State University, Museum of Zoologylocation not on record | 1 |
| CSIRO, Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 1 |
| Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
| Fisheries Research Laboratory, Mie Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Universidad del Valle (UniValle)location not on record | 1 |
| Montgomery, US | 1 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 1 |
| Curtin Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Food Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherieslocation not on record | 1 |
| UWFClocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 1 |
| UFESlocation not on record | 1 |
| Chicago, US | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Aluterus monoceros was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.