The Six-spine Leatherjacket (Meuschenia freycineti) is one of the larger leatherjacket species in the leatherjackets family Monacanthidae. There are two distinct populations of the Six-spine Leatherjacket in Australia; the east coast population is from northern New South Wales to eastern Victoria and the south coast population is from Wilson’s Promontory to Western Australia, including the waters of Tasmania. In appearance the east coast population has much brighter colours.
Females are generally a pale greenish/yellow colour and have three to five brown longitudinal bands. Males are normally blue in colour with yellow blotches and a greenish colour face with blue and yellow markings. Large adults can be found living on coastal reefs that have rocky outcrops and large boulders to depths of 50 metres whilst juveniles are more commonly observed inhabiting seagrass beds in the coastal estuaries and bays. The Six-spine Leatherjacket grows to a maximum size of approximately 60cm cm.
