Platycephalus speculator, Southern bluespotted flathead

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Platycephalus speculator Klunzinger, 1872

Southern bluespotted flathead
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Platycephalus speculator   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Platycephalus speculator (Southern bluespotted flathead)
Platycephalus speculator
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Scorpaeniformes (Scorpionfishes and flatheads) > Platycephalidae (Flatheads)
Etymology: Platycephalus: Greek, platys = flat + Greek, kephale = head (Ref. 45335).  More on author: Klunzinger.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range 1 - 30 m (Ref. 9563).   Subtropical; - 45°S

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Indian Ocean: known only from southern Australia, from Western Australia to Victoria and Tasmania. Large adults have been misidentified as Platycephalus fuscus, the common estuarine flathead of New South Wales and southern Queensland (Ref. 9563).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 32.5  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 90.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9563)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 8 - 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 13-14; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 13 - 14; Vertebrae: 27. Adults have 3-5 large round black spots with white margins on the lower-half of the caudal fin.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

A shallow water species, recorded from surf beaches, estuaries and in bays (Ref. 9563).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley, 1989. Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p. (Ref. 7300)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 120744)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES (Ref. 118484)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource |

More information

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Common names
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Eggs
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 15.7 - 23.8, mean 18 (based on 215 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00479 (0.00212 - 0.01078), b=3.06 (2.86 - 3.26), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  4.0   ±0.4 se; Based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=1-2; tmax=12).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (41 of 100) .