Platycephalidae

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Family of ray-finned fishes

title: "Platycephalidae" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["platycephalidae", "fish-of-the-pacific-ocean", "perciformes-families", "taxa-named-by-william-swainson"] description: "Family of ray-finned fishes" topic_path: "general/platycephalidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platycephalidae" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of ray-finned fishes ::

The Platycephalidae are a family of marine ray-finned fish, most commonly referred to as flatheads. They are relatives of the lionfish, and belong to the order Perciformes.

Taxonomy

Platycephalidae was first proposed as a family in 1839 by the English naturalist William Swainson. Other authorities differ and do not consider the Scorpaeniformes to be a valid order because the Perciformes is not monophyletic without the taxa within the Scorpaeniformes being included within it. These authorities consider the Platycephalidae to belong to the suborder Platycephaloidei, along with the families Bembridae, Parabembridae, Hoplichthyidae and Plectrogeniidae within the Perciformes.

Genera

Platycephalidae has the following 17 genera (including about 86 species) classified within it:

The genus Sorsogona is recognised by Fishbase but, apparently, it does not include the type species, Sorsogona serrulata, as a species within it. Catalog of Fishes treats this genus as a synonym of Rogadius but classifies all the species in Ratabulus, including the type species, which it treats as a synonym of Ratabulus tuberculatus.

Etymology

The name of the family is derived from the Greek words platy, meaning "flat", and kephale for "head".

Description

Platycephalids are small to medium-sized fish. Most species are small, reaching an average of 10 cm in length. However, a few species in the genus Platycephalus are known to grow up to over a 1 m in length. Their most distinctive characteristic is the flattened shape of their heads. While the rest of their bodies is shaped similarly to other fish that inhabit the areas they frequent, their heads are triangle-shaped and dorsoventrally depressed, giving them the shape of a trowel or an artist's spatula. Their eyes are situated on the upper surface, in accordance with their bottom-dwelling lifestyle. They possess two complete dorsal fins, the first one supported by six to 9 strong spines.

Distribution and habitat

Platycephalidae can be found naturally in coastal waters throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Biology

Flatheads are mostly marine demersal fish, often resting directly on the seabed, sometimes partially buried in sand or mud. They can be found in a wide range of depths, ranging from 10 m to the edge of the continental shelf at depths of about 300 m.

Flatheads are carnivorous, feeding on small fish and crustaceans. They lie in wait buried by sand, with only their eyes poking out from the substrate. When prospective prey walks or swims close to the platycephalid's head, the flathead strikes rapidly, engulfing the prey in its large mouth. As flatheads are ambush predators they are expected to be relatively sedentary and not move large distances as adults. However, recent research has shown that part of the population of some flathead species makes long-distance movements or spawning migrations.

Fisheries

Active commercial fisheries are geared towards members of the family. In Japan, some species are the subject of experimental aquaculture programs. Flatheads are commonly caught on rod and line. The larger species are considered game fish.

References

(2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa.
(2016). "Fishes of the World". Wiley.
(2017). "Phylogenetic classification of bony fishes". BMC Evolutionary Biology.
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Hisashi Inamura. (1996). "Phylogeny of the Family Platycephalidae and Related Taxa (Pisces: Scorpaeniformes)". Species Diversity.
(2019). "From the tropics to the pole and back again: Radiation in the flathead fishes (Platycephalidae) across Australia and the Indo-West Pacific". Journal of Biogeography.
{{FishBase genus. (2022)
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(7 December 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Platycephaloidei: Families Bembridae, Parabembridae, Hoplichthyidae, Platycephalidae and Plectrogeniidae". Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara.
(6 January 2015). "Taxonomic revision of the flathead fish genus ''Platycephalus'' Bloch, 1785 (Teleostei: Platycephalidae) from Australia, with description of a new species". Zootaxa.
Eschmeyer, William N.. (1998). "Encyclopedia of Fishes". Academic Press.
(28 July 2016). "Active acoustic tracking suggests that soft sediment fishes can show site attachment: a preliminary assessment of the movement patterns of the blue-spotted flathead (Platycephalus caeruleopunctatus)". Animal Biotelemetry.
(29 July 2015). "Gippsland Lakes dusky flathead tracking project". Victorian Fisheries Authority.
(2015). "STATUS OF FISHERIES RESOURCES IN NSW 2013-14". NSW Fisheries Reports.

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