''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, is a common species of flathead. This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to southern Australia.

Taxonomy

''Platycephalus speculator'' was first formally described in 1872 by the German

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

Carl Benjamin Klunzinger Carl Benjamin Klunzinger (18 November 1834, in Güglingen – 21 June 1914, in Stuttgart) was a German physician and zoologist. He studied medicine at the Universities of Tübingen and Würzburg, afterwards attending lectures on geology and ...

with its type locality given as

Hobson's Bay The City of Hobsons Bay is a local government area in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It comprises the south-western suburbs between 6 and 20 km from the Melbourne city centre. It was founded on 22 June 1994 during the amalgamation of l ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. The specific name ''speculator'' means "explorer" , "searcher" or "investigator", an allusion Klunzinger did not explain, but it may refer to the much larger eyes of this species in comparison to the

bartail flathead 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 ...

''(P. indicus'').

Description

''Platycephalus speculator'' has an elongated and slightly flattened body with a large, flattened head which is about one-third of the

standard 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 m ...

with several smooth bony ridges which have very few spines on them. It has moderately large eyes with wide, rounded lappets on the irises. The large mouth has small, pointed teeth on the jaws, one or two rows 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 ...

and a single row of palatine teeth on each of the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

s. There are no enlarged canine-like teeth. The preoperculum has two robust spines at its angle with the lower spine being a little longer than the upper. 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 ...

is short based, has 8 or 9 spines with the first spine being very short and is separate. The second dorsal fin has a moderately long base with 13 or 14, typically 14, soft rays with the first rays being the longest. 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 ...

has a similar shape and is opposite the second dorsal fin, has a slightly longer base and contains 14 soft rays. The caudal fin is truncate to rounded. This species attains 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 , and a maximum weight of . The overall colour is sandy to dark brown or greyish, ligher ventrally, with a lot of dark blotches and whitish to bluish spots. There are between 3 and 5 large white-margined black spots or blotches on the distal part 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 ...

, progressively shrinking dorsally.

Distribution and habitat

''Platycephalus speculator'' is endemic to southern Australia where it ranges from

Point Hicks Point Hicks (formerly called Cape Everard), is a coastal headland in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, Australia, located within the Croajingolong National Park. The point is marked by the Point Hicks Lighthouse that faces the Tasman Sea ...

in Victoria to Kalbarri in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

), it also occurs off northern

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. This species prefer areas of sand and seaweed beds in shallow coastal waters, particularly shallow sheltered bays, living down to depth.

Biology

''Platycephalus speculator'' feeds largely on fishes, aas well as large benthic crustaceans. The breeding season peaks in the summer and early autumn, in December to March. Spawning typically occurs in the sea, however, in some areas it takes place within estuaries, even when the estuary is cut off from the sea.

Fisheries

''Platycephalus speculator'' is the commonest flathead sold in Western Australian fish markets. Along Australia's southern coast this species is caught using

beach seine Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing; ) is a method of fishing that employs a surrounding net, called a seine, that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be dep ...

gill net 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 ...

s and haul nets.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1861447 speculator Marine fish of Southern Australia Marine fish of Western Australia Taxa named by Carl Benjamin Klunzinger Fish described in 1872