''Platycephalus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of mostly

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

demersal The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

. 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 A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and naturalist

Marcus Elieser Bloch Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) was a German physician and naturalist who is best known for his contribution to ichthyology through his multi-volume catalog of plates illustrating the fishes of the world. Brought up in a Hebrew-speaking Jewish ...

with ''Callionymus indicus'', which had been described in 1748 by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

from "Asia", as its

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

. This genus is classified within the family Playtcephalidae, the flatheads which the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classification of the ...

'' classifies within the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Platycephaloidei in the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Scorpaeniformes.

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: * ''

Platycephalus angustus ''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 propos ...

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner describ ...

, 1866 (Steindachner's flathead) * ''

Platycephalus aurimaculatus ''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 propos ...

'' L. W. Knapp, 1987 (Toothy flathead) * '' Platycephalus australis'' Imamura, 2015 (Australian bartail flathead) * ''

Platycephalus bassensis ''Platycephalus bassensis'' the Southern sand flathead, Bass flathead, bay flathead, common flathead, sand flathead, sandy, sandy flathead, slimy flathead or ''yanks'', is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephali ...

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

, 1829 (Sand flathead) * ''

Platycephalus caeruleopunctatus ''Platycephalus caeruleopunctatus'', the bluespotted flathead, drift flathead, Eastern blue-spot flathead, longnose flathead, red flathead, red spotted flathead, sand flathead or yank, is a species of predatory ray-finned fish belonging to the f ...

'' McCulloch, 1922 (Blue-spotted flathead) * '' Platycephalus chauliodous'' L. W. Knapp, 1991 (Big-tooth flathead) * ''

Platycephalus conatus ''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 propos ...

'' Waite & McCulloch, 1915 (Deep-water flathead) * ''

Platycephalus cultellatus ''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 propos ...

'' J. Richardson, 1846 * '' Platycephalus endrachtensis'' Quoy & Gaimard, 1825 (Yellow-tail flathead) * '' Platycephalus fuscus'' Cuvier, 1829 (Dusky flathead) * '' Platycephalus grandispinis'' Cuvier, 1829 (Long-spined flathead) 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.'' * ''

Platycephalus indicus The bartail flathead (''Platycephalus indicus''), also known as the Indian flathead, gobi or Indo-Pacific flathead, is a species of largely marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Platycephalidae, the flatheads. This species is found in t ...

'' ( Linnaeus,

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the sta ...

) (Bar-tail flathead) * '' Platycephalus laevigatus'' Cuvier, 1829 (Black flathead) * ''

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

Stead Stead (pronounced 'sted' as in "instead") is an English language, English surname, and may refer to: Surnames * Barry Stead (1939–1980), English cricketer * C. K. Stead (born 1932), New Zealand writer and critic * Christina Stead (1902–1983) ...

, 1908 (Marbled flathead) * ''

Platycephalus micracanthus ''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 propos ...

'' Sauvage, 1873 * ''

Platycephalus orbitalis ''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 propos ...

'' Imamura & L. W. Knapp, 2009 (Western Australian flathead) * '' Platycephalus richardsoni'' Castelnau, 1872 (Tiger flathead) * ''

Platycephalus speculator ''Platycephalus speculator'', the southern bluespotted flathead, Castelnau's flathead, deepwater flathead, king flathead, Lakes Entrance flathead, longnose flathead, shovelnose flathead, Southern dusky flathead, Southern flathead or yank flathead ...

'' Klunzinger, 1872 (Southern bluespotted flathead) * ''

Platycephalus westraliae ''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 propos ...

'' ( Whitley, 1938)

Characteristics

''Platycephalus'' flatheads have no less than two spines 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 ...

. with the lowerer spine being the longest. The upper lobe of the

caudal 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 ...

does not have an elongated filament. They have between 7 and 10 spines in the first

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

and more than 13 soft rays in the second dorsal fin. They are further separated by having a single band of

vomerine teeth The vomer (; lat, vomer, lit=ploughshare) is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and articulates with the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxill ...

rather than two distinct patches. The largest species is ''P. fuscus'' with a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of while the smallest is ''P. orbitalis'' with a maximum published total length of .

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 The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

as a

Lessepsian migrant The Lessepsian migration (also called Erythrean invasion) is the migration of marine species across the Suez Canal, usually from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and more rarely in the opposite direction. When the canal was completed in 18 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2445813 Platycephalidae Taxa named by Marcus Elieser Bloch