''Platycephalus laevigatus'', the rock flathead, black flathead, grass flathead, king flathead, marbled-bellied flathead, Port Albert flathead, smooth flathead or Southern rock flathead, 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. This species is endemic to Australia.

Taxonomy

''Platycephalus laevigatus'' was first formally described 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 ...

with the type locality given as Western Port in Victoria. 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 ...

''laevigatus'' means "smoothed" and refers to the smooth head, lacking any spines or ridges, of this species.

Description

''Platycephalus laevigatus'' has a slightly flattened, elongate body with a small head which is also slightly flattened and is smooth, lacking ridges. The large eyes are positioned well forward on the head and have a single, lobed lappet. The mouth is large and has small pointed teeth in a band on the jaws with no enlarged canine-like teeth. The two spines on the peroperculum are moderately sized and are sited on its angle, the upper spine is the longer one. The first dorsal fin is short based and has 8 or 9 spines, usually 9, with the first spine being very small and separated. The second dorsal fin has a relatively long base as does 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 ...

, the second dorsal fin has 14 or 15 soft rays while the anal fin between 13 and 15 soft rays. The caudal fin is rounded. The background colour is greenish to pale brown flathead marked with darker bars across the back. There is a broken stripe in the middle of the flanks and the tail is yellow with dark spots. Some specimens may be patterned with spots or marbling. The maximum published total length of this species is .

Distribution and habitat

''Platycephalus laevigatus'' is endemic to Australia where it is found from

Greenwell Point Greenwell Point is a town in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales, Australia. It is about 13 km east of Nowra on the South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropoli ...

in New South Wales to Geographe Bay in Western Australia, its range extends around Tasmania too. It occurs on rocky reefs, sand and seagrass beds in coastal waters down to at least .

Biology

''Platycephalus laevigatus'', unlike many of its congeners prefers to resting on the hard substrate in areas of sea weed and seagrass, rather than burying itself in the sediment. It is carnivorous, feeding largely on fishes and on large benthic crustaceans. It is typically

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal, vespertine, or both. This is distinguished from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, where an animal is active during the hours of daylig ...

and

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

Fisheries

''Platycephalus laevigatus'' is of minor importance to commercial fisheries and is landed in small numbers using beach seines and

gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

Gallery

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2850379 laevigatus Marine fish of Southern Australia Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier