Platycephalus fuscus

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Generally inhabit shallow bays and inlets and can be found in estuaries as far as tidal limits [1]; they often invade freshwater . They occur over mud , silt gravel , sand and seagrass (mainly Zostera species) beds from intertidal areas to depths of 10 m in Queensland and to 30 m in southern New South Wales.

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 565 meters (0 to 1,854 feet).[2]

Biology

Diet

Feed on small fish, crabs, prawns, small crustaceans. octopus , squid and polychaete worms.

Reproduction

Eggs and larvae are dispersed along the coast by tidal and current movements[3]. Small juveniles less than 12 cm TL first appear in coastal bays 1-2 months after spawning. They mainly inhabit shallow mangrove and mud flats and seagrass beds [1][4].

Behavior

27247).

Predators:

They have spines on the outer edges of their head which can inflict nasty cuts during handling (pers. comm. , Bernard Moss, 2001).

Taxonomy

Synonyms

Platycephalus cinereus Günther • Platycephalus fuscus Cuvier in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1829 • Platycephalus fuscus Cuvier, 1829

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Comment: In Cuvier & Valenciennes.

Last scrutiny: Data last modified by FishBase 14-Jun-1999

Similar Species

Members of the genus Platycephalus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 40 species and subspecies in this genus:

P. arenarius (Northern-Flag Tailed Flathead) · P. asper (Olive-Tailed Flathead) · P. aurimaculatus (Mongrel Tiger Flathead) · P. bassensis (Southern Sand Flathead) · P. borboniensis (Small-Eyed Flathead) · P. boschei (Bosch's Flathead) · P. caeruleopunctatus (Eastern Blue-Spot Flathead) · P. carbunculus (Papillose Flathead) · P. celebicus (Quarterspined Flathead) · P. chauliodous (Bigtooth Flathead) · P. conatus (Deep-Water Flathead) · P. cooperi (Spotted Flathead) · P. crocodilus (Crocodile Flathead) · P. endrachtensis (Western Estuary Flathead) · P. fuscus (Dusky Finned Bulleye) · P. gruveli (Guinea Flathead) · P. guttatus (Spot Eye Flathead) · P. indicus (Indo-Pacific Flathead) · P. japonicus (Japanese Flathead) · P. laevigatus (Marbled-Bellied Flathead) · P. longiceps (Indian Ocean Crocodilefish) · P. longispinis (Western Sand Flathead) · P. longispinus (Longspined Flathead) · P. macrodon (Tiger Flathead) · P. macrolepis (Notched Flathead) · P. marmoratus (Marbled Flathead) · P. nematophthalmus (Fringe-Eyed Flathead) · P. oligolepis (Large-Scale Flathead) · P. orbitalis (Western-Australian Flathead) · P. pedimacula (Blackblotch Flathead) · P. pristiger (Thorny Flathead) · P. pristis (Quarterspined Flathead) · P. richardsoni (Deep Sea Flathead) · P. rodericensis (Large-Spinned Flathead) · P. serratus (Serrated Flathead) · P. speculator (Castelnau's Flathead) · P. spinosus (Midget Flathead) · P. suppositus (Regan's Flathead) · P. tentaculatus (Tentacled Flathead) · Sorsogona prionota (Halfspined Flathead)

More Info

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Further Reading

• Bulletin - United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.];1877-1971. url p. 48.
• Check list of the fishes and fish-like animals of New South Wales. SydneyRoyal Zoological Society of New South Wales1922 url p. 94.
• Fish and fisheries of New South Wales. Sydney, T. Richards, 1882. url , .
• Fish skulls; a study of the evolution of natural mechanisms. Laurel, Fla., E. Lundberg, 1959. url p. 333.
• Fishery bulletin / U.S. Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service. Washington, D.C.: The Service: url p. 354.
• Fishes of Australia: a popular and systematic guide to the study of the wealth within our waters, by David G. Stead. With ten full-page plates and eighty-eight illustrations in the text. Sydney, W. Brooks & Co., 1906. url , p. 264.
• Memoirs: Australian Museum. Sydney: The Museum, 1851- url p. 104, p. 132.
• Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Washington, Biological Society of Washington url p. 29.
• Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Sydney, Linnean Society of New South Wales. url , , p. 32, p. 360, p. 361, p. 363.
• Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. Melbourne: The Society, 1889- url p. 27.
• Proceedings of the United States National Museum. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, [etc.] url p. 630.
• Records of the South Australian Museum / Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery of South Australia. Adelaide: Published under the authority of the board of governors and edited by the museum director, 1918- url p. 172.
• The Australian zoologist. Sydney, Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales url p. 327.
• The Emu: official organ of the Australasian Ornithologists' Union. Melbourne: Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, 1901- url p. 211.
• The Great Barrier Reef of Australia: its products and potentialities / by W. Saville-Kent; containing an account, with copious coloured and photographic illustrations. .. of the corals and coral reefs, pearl and pearl-shell, bêche-de-mer, other fishing industries, and t London: W.H. Allen, [1893?] url p. 383.
• The edible fishes of New South Wales: their present importance and their potentialities / by David G. Stead; with 81 plates and 1 map. [Sydney]: Pub. by authority of the government of the State of New South Wales, 1908. url p. 111.
• The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. .. by Dr. Max Weber. .. and Dr. L.F. de Beaufort. Leiden, E.J. Brill, Ltd., 1911- url p. 306.
• Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. [London]: Published for the Zoological Society of London by Academic Press url p. 96.

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 15, 2012.
• Fisch-Muller, Sonia (from FishBase).
• FishBase 2006.
• FishBase. Release date: January 5, 2010
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 04, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 4 providers.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 04, 2008:

• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: Bureau of Rural Sciences National commercial fisheries half-degree data set 2000-2002 (OBIS Australia)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: CSIRO Marine Data Warehouse (OBIS Australia)
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle: Ichtyologie
• OZCAM (Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums) Provider: Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
• Royal Ontario Museum: Fish specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 135485
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-122288
• Fishbase Species ID: 49820
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 14386274
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 167156
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 120934

Footnotes

1. Dredge, M.C.L. (1976). Aspects of the ecology of three estuarine dwelling fish in southeast Queensland. University of Queensland. 122 p. M.S. thesis. [back]
2. Mean = -599.050 meters (-1,965.387 feet), Standard Deviation = 1,247.530 based on 188 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
3. Anon. (1982). Commercial fisheries of New South Wales. N.S.W. State Fisheries. 60 p. [back]
4. State Pollution Control Commission (1982). The ecology of fish in Botany Bay - biology of commercially and recreationally valuable species. Environmental Control Study of Botany Bay. Sydney. 287 p. [back]
5. Brown, I.W. (1977). Ecology of three sympatric flatheads (Platycephalidae) in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. Monash University, Victoria. Ph.D. dissertation. 324 p. [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.