FishOccasionalVisible while snorkeling

Scrawled filefish

Aluterus scriptus

As if a child had scribbled on it with a blue felt-tip: the scrawled filefish's flat, elongated body is covered in looping blue lines and black dots.

Photo: iNaturalist – (c) Mélodie Caussat, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Mélodie Caussat

The scrawled filefish (Aluterus scriptus) is the giant of the filefish family: its 60–75 cm, strongly compressed body is "scribbled" all over with looping bright-blue lines and small black dots on an olive or grey-brown base – no two individuals share the same pattern. A thin, erectable spine stands above its head, and it often trails its long, broom-like tail folded shut. Depending on mood and surroundings it can darken or fade its colours within seconds.

Its menu is one of the strangest on the reef: alongside algae and seagrass it eats hydroids, gorgonians, tunicates and even stinging organisms – things most fish would not dare touch. It often grazes hovering head-down, its elongated body blending in among coral branches and whip corals. It is a solitary, wary fish; if it feels watched it slowly tilts onto its side and tries to melt into the background.

Around Hurghada it is not an everyday sight, so every encounter feels like a small celebration: you will recognise its distinctive silhouette gliding slowly over the coral gardens from far away. It can also appear near the surface for snorkelers on the sheltered sides of the Giftun Islands and in the Dolphin House lagoon. Approach from the side at a relaxed pace – if it does not feel cornered, it will let you admire it at length.

Did you know?

Young scrawled filefish grow up among drifting seaweed and flotsam on the open ocean: floating head-down they mimic the drifting vegetation, and can cross entire oceans this way before settling on a reef.

Where can you meet it?

It cruises over coral gardens and sheltered lagoons: your best chances are on the reefs of Giftun and Small Giftun and on the shallow plateau of Dolphin House (Shaab El Erg).

Frequently asked questions

Not at all: it is a shy, peaceful fish that would rather drift away than wait for you. The spine above its head serves only to wedge itself into a crevice at night – it poses no danger to you whatsoever.

Its skin is made of tiny, rough scales that feel like sandpaper or a file – hence the name in both English and Hungarian. The "scrawled" part it owes to the looping blue lines covering its body.

Yes, you have a chance: it occasionally appears near the surface, in shallow lagoons and over reef tops – especially on the Dolphin House plateau. Swim slowly and calmly, as it is a wary fish and vanishes at sudden movements.