''Platax teira'', also known as the teira batfish, longfin batfish, longfin spadefish, or round faced batfish is a fish from the Indo-West

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of in length.

Description

''Platax teira'' has a dark blotch under the pectoral fin, with another long dark mark above the base of the anal fin. Looked at from the side, it has a roughly circular body with a low hump on the nape. This fish is usually silver, grey or brownish. It has a blackish band through the eye and another band with the pectoral fin. They will change colour from silvery white with no bands, to brown with darker banding as you watch, and then fade back to silver again.

Distribution

In Australia it can be found from the central coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south to the southern coast of New South Wales. In

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

it was reported from the

Gulf of Mannar The Gulf of Mannar ( ) is a large shallow bay forming part of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean with an average depth of .

. It has been reported twice recently in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

, off

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Long-fin Batfish in Coral Bay, Western Australia

They are known to reside among floating seaweed, debris, and

artificial reef An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing. Many ...

Habitat

The species occurs in shallow coastal habitats to deeper offshore.

Diet

''Platax teira'' is an omnivore. It will eat plankton, sessile invertebrates, small invertebrates, and marine algae.

In the aquarium

They are a very peaceful and social fish and will form schools with others of their species. They should not be kept with very aggressive species that may harass them as juveniles. Teira batfish are usually rather small when first purchased, but they will rapidly outgrow a small home aquarium to reach a maximum size of 24".

References

3. Marimuthu, N., J.J. Wilson and A.K. Kumaraguru, 2005. Teira batfish, Platax teira (Forsskal, 1775) in Pudhumadam coastal waters, drifted due to the tsunami of 26 December 2004. Current Science 89(8):1310-1312. *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1805224 Ephippidae Fish described in 1775 Taxa named by Peter Forsskål