''Platax pinnatus'', also known as the pinnate spadefish, pinnate batfish, pinnatus batfish, dusky batfish, shaded batfish, or red-faced batfish is a fish from the western

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 continen ...

that occasionally is kept in marine aquariums.

Description

As a juvenile it is blackish brown, or black with an orange stripe outlining its entire body. Adults become a dull silver. This fish grows to a maximum size of .

Importance to humans

In the aquarium

The pinnate batfish is occasionally kept in marine aquariums.

In the wild

''Platax pinnatus'' has been observed to significantly reduce algal growths on coral in studies simulating overfishing on the Great Barrier Reef.

References

fishbase Page on Platax pinnatus

page on Platax pinnatus

External links

* * * Ephippidae Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Ephippidae-stub