The crocodile flathead (''Cociella crocodilus'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family

Platycephalidae The Platycephalidae are a family of marine fish, most commonly referred to as flatheads. They are relatives of the popular lionfish, belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. Taxonomy Platycephalidae was first proposed as a family in 1839 by the E ...

, the flatheads. It is found in the western Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

The crocodile flathead was first formally described as ''Platycephalus crocodilus'' in 1829 by the French zoologist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

, the species was not described from a type specimen, it was based on an illustration and so is an

iconotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

. In 1925

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Univer ...

and

Carl Leavitt Hubbs Carl Leavitt Hubbs (October 19, 1894 – June 30, 1979) was an American ichthyologist. Biography Youth He was born in Williams, Arizona. He was the son of Charles Leavitt and Elizabeth (née Goss) Hubbs. His father had a wide variety of jobs (f ...

proposed a new genus, ''Cocius'', and named ''P. crocodilus'' as its type species. However, this was preoccupied by an

antlion The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. In North America, the larvae ...

named by the Spanish

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Longinos Navás Longinos Navás (7 March 1858 Cabacés, Tarragona – 31 December 1938 Girona) was a Spanish entomologist who specialised in Plecoptera and Neuropteroidea. Father Longinos Navás was a Jesuit priest. He published extensively on the Neu ...

in 1921, and in 1940 Gilbert Percy Whitley proposed a new name for this genus ''

Cociella ''Cociella'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Platycephalidae, the flatheads. These fishes are found in the Indo-Pacific region. Taxonomy ''Cociella'' was first proposed as a genus in 1940 by the Australian ichthyol ...

'', a

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A (abbreviated ) is a word-formati ...

of Jordan and Hubbs original name. The crocodile flathead was considered to have a wide

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

distribution but in 1996 Leslie W. Knapp described three new species and removed a fourth '' C. punctata'' from being a synonym of ''C. crocodilus''. As a consequence ''C. crocodilus'' ''

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'' was restricted to the western Pacific Ocean. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''crocodilus'' means "

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

", a reference to the flattened, crocodile like head and comes from an illustration caption in Tilesius 1814 but as Tilesius's name was printed in Cyrillic script, it is not available under the

ICZN The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals. It is also informally known as the ICZN Code, for its publisher, the I ...

Description

The crocodile flathead typically has 11 soft rays in the second dorsal fin and the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. There are 2 spines on the suborbital ridge but no spines to the rear of the eye. The top spine on the

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

is relatively long almost extending to the margin of the operculum. There is usually no preorbital spine, although there is sometimes a very small one. There are between 74 and 91 diagonal scale rows above the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

. There are typically 7, although there may be one more or one less, gill rakers on the first gill arch. There are no flaps in between the opercula. The overall colour is brownish with a number small dark spots on the upper body and typically there are 4 or 5 dark brown bands crossing the back. The first dorsal fin has a wide black band near its margin with small black spots below that. The other fins have dark spots. This species attains a maximum published length of .

Distribution and habitat

The crocodile flathead was considered to have a wide Indo-Pacific distribution but the revised species is restricted to the western Pacific Ocean in Japan, China and Taiwan. It occurs from close to the shore down to on substrates of sand or mud. The larvae and juveniles occasionally enter brackish waters in mangroves, particularly the lower reaches.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4334391 Fish described in 1829 Crocodile flathead Taxa named by Georges Cuvier