Common name for several species of fish
Fringe-lipped flathead, Papua New Guinea
A
flathead
is one of a number of small to medium
fish
species with notably flat heads, distributed in membership across various
genera
of the
family
Platycephalidae
. Many species are found in
estuaries
and the open
ocean
in the
Indo-Pacific
, especially most parts of
Australia
where they are popular
sport
and
table fish
. Flathead can grow at least 1 metre (3.3 ft) in length and 18 kilograms (40 lb) in weight,
[1]
with
dusky flathead
(
Platycephalus fuscus
) being the biggest, although fish this size are seldom caught.
[2]
Anatomy and morphology
[
edit
]
Flathead are notable for their unusual body shape, which their hunting strategy is based upon. Flathead are dorsally compressed, meaning their body is wide but flattened and very low in height. Both eyes are on the top of the flattened head, giving excellent binocular vision to attack overhead prey. The effect is somewhat similar to
flounders
. In contrast to flounder, however, flathead are much more elongated, the tail remains vertical, and the mouth is large, wide and symmetrical. Flathead use this body structure to hide in sand (their body colour changes to match their background), with only their eyes visible, and explode upwards and outwards to engulf small fish and prawns as they drift over, using a combination of
ram
and
suction
feeding thereby improving their chances to catch prey.
[3]
Flathead have two short spikes on either side of their heads and on top of their heads that contain venom. The venom, while not fatal, can cause pain and infection for no more than about 2 days. Some anglers believe the pain of the sting of the Flathead fish can be reduced by rubbing the slime of the belly of the same fish that caused the sting on the inflicted wound, due to a particular gland in its belly.
[
citation needed
]
Habitat
[
edit
]
Dusky flatheads
(
Platycephalus fuscus
) are found in estuaries and coastal bays from
Cairns
in
Queensland
to the
Gippsland Lakes
in
Victoria
. They occur over sand, mud, gravel and seagrass and can inhabit estuarine waters up to the tidal limit.
[4]
Oceanic flathead species (sand flathead, tiger flathead, bar-tailed flathead) are, as named, generally located more offshore than the dusky flathead, frequenting the sandy zones around and between coastal reefs; although bar-tailed flathead occur in many estuarine environments, for example the Swan/Canning River System in Perth.
[
citation needed
]
Dusky flathead,
Platycephalus fuscus
Importance to humans
[
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]
Fishermen catch flathead on a variety of baits and artificial lures all year round,
[5]
but they are more commonly caught during summer.
[
citation needed
]
Only a handful of the many flathead species are regularly caught by fishermen.
[
citation needed
]
The Australian state of New South Wales has a substantial commercial flathead catch.
[
citation needed
]
Many flathead species are commonly used as food in Australia.
[6]
However, as of 2022
[update]
, the sand flathead (
Platycephalus bassensis
) was classified as depleted due to overfishing.
[7]
[8]
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]