Platycephalus

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Genus of fishes

title: "Platycephalus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["platycephalidae", "platycephalus", "taxa-named-by-marcus-elieser-bloch"] description: "Genus of fishes" topic_path: "general/platycephalidae" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platycephalus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of fishes ::

|fossil_range=Ypresian to Recent {{cite journal |last=Sepkoski |first=J. |author-link=Jack Sepkoski |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |date=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class |image=Platycephalus fuscus 1.jpg |image_caption=Platycephalus fuscus |taxon=Platycephalus |authority=Bloch, 1795 |type_species=Callionymus indicus |type_species_authority=Linnaeus, 1758 | synonyms = * Cacumen Whitley, 1931

  • Calliomorus Lacepède, 1800
  • Colefaxia Whitley, 1935
  • Longitrudis Whitley, 1931
  • Neoplatycephalus Castelnau, 1872
  • Planiprora Whitley, 1931
  • Trudis Whitley, 1931 | synonyms_ref =

Platycephalus is a genus of mostly marine, demersal ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephalidae. They are found in the eastern Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

Platycephalus was first proposed as a genus in 1795 by the German physician and naturalist Marcus Elieser Bloch with Callionymus indicus, which had been described in 1748 by Carl Linnaeus from "Asia", as its type species.

Etymology

The genus name Platycephalus means "flat head" an allusion to the wide flattened head of these fishes which leads to the English common name flathead.

Species

There are currently 19 recognised species in this genus:

Characteristics

Platycephalus flatheads have no less than two spines on the preoperculum. with the lowerer spine being the longest. The upper lobe of the caudal fin does not have an elongated filament. They have between 7 and 10 spines in the first dorsal fin and more than 13 soft rays in the second dorsal fin. They are further separated by having a single band of vomerine teeth rather than two distinct patches. The largest species is P. fuscus with a maximum published total length of 120 cm while the smallest is P. orbitalis with a maximum published total length of 33.3 cm.

Distribution

Platycephalus flatheads are found in the Indo-West Pacific region, mostly around Australia where 16 of the 19 species in the genus are found. One species, the bartail flathead (P. indicus), has entered the eastern Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal as a Lessepsian migrant.

References

References

  1. {{Cof family
  2. (2016). "Fishes of the World". Wiley.
  3. (7 December 2021). "Order Perciformes (Part 11): Suborder Platycephaloidei: Families Bembridae, Parabembridae, Hoplichthyidae, Platycephalidae and Plectrogeniidae". Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara.
  4. {{FishBase genus. (2022)
  5. {{Cof genus
  6. (2013). "Redescription of ''Platycephalus angustus'' Steindachner 1866 (Teleostei: Platycephalidae), a valid flathead in northern Australia and New Guinea". Ichthyological Research.
  7. (2015). "Taxonomic revision of the flathead fish genus ''Platycephalus'' Bloch, 1795 (Teleostei: Platycephalidae) from Australia, with description of a new species". Zootaxa.
  8. Imamura, H. (2013): Validity of ''Platycephalus grandispinis'' Cuvier, 1829, with Priority over ''Platycephalus longispinis'' Macleay, 1884 (Actinopterygii: Scorpaeniformes: Platycephalidae). ''Species Diversity, 18 (2): 183-192.''
  9. L.W. Knapp. (1999). "FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 4. Bony fishes part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae)". FAO, Rome.
  10. (1990). "Two Red Sea Flatheads (Platycephalidae) Immigrants in the Mediterranean". Cybium.

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platycephalidaeplatycephalustaxa-named-by-marcus-elieser-bloch