Orange Filefish
Aluterus schoepfii
How to tell it
Big pale filefish dusted with tiny orange freckles; tiny upturned mouth and a broom of a tail.
Often mistaken for
Two fish that get called orange filefish, and what gives each one away.
- Scrawled filefish: Blue scribbles and black dots. Tell them apart
- Gray triggerfish: True trigger, gray with saddle blotches. Tell them apart
Rules for
Every state
| State | Size | Bag | Season | Today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida (Atlantic) | No size limit | 5 per species within 20-organism marine life aggregate | Open year-roundFWC 2026 · likely · checked | Open |
| Florida (Gulf) | No size limit | 5 per species within 20-organism marine life aggregate | Open year-roundFWC 2026 · likely · checked | Open |
Not specifically regulated in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia: each state’s rule for unlisted species applies there (on its page).
On the table
Edible — skin it, the hide is leather.
In the app
Point the camera at an orange filefish and the name appears before you take the picture, with these rules for the water you’re standing in. No signal needed, and every catch goes in the log.
Get the appQuestions anglers ask about orange filefish
How many orange filefish can you keep?
Florida (Atlantic): 5 per species within 20-organism marine life aggregate; Florida (Gulf): 5 per species within 20-organism marine life aggregate.
How do you tell orange filefish from scrawled filefish?
Orange Filefish: Big pale filefish dusted with tiny orange freckles; tiny upturned mouth and a broom of a tail. Scrawled filefish: blue scribbles and black dots.