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Dwarf Flathead Elates ransonnetii (Steindachner, 1876)
[CAAB 37 296013]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

Inshore and continental shelf waters of the Indo-West Pacific; in northern Australia, from off Exmouth (Western Australia) to Pine Peak (Queensland); elsewhere found off Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Gulf of Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. Demersal on soft bottoms at depths of 5-65 m, a single specimen is recorded from the North West Shelf at 221 m.

Size:

Maximum length at least 26 cm

Food and feeding:

Presumably primarily piscivorous, also benthic crustaceans.

Characteristics:

D VI, 12-14 (usually 13); A 12-14; C 14 or 15; P 19-22 (usually 20 or 21); V I, 5; Llat (pored) 83-107.

Body elongate, relatively slender, slightly depressed. Head large (length 27-30% SL), moderately depressed; bony ridges mostly smooth, prominent; a preorbital spine present; a single preocular spine present; suborbital ridge with 3 small spines, a short one under anterior of eye and a long one below posterior margin of eye; supraorbital ridge smooth, somewhat serrate posteriorly; lower edge bicarinate; eyes large (19-21% HL), iris lappet poorly developed, a simple lobe; no dermal papillae on eye; no pit behind upper eye; mouth moderately large, extending to below anterior nostril (well anterior to eye), lower jaw much longer than upper jaw; teeth very small, in two separate patches on vomer, no greatly enlarged canines; a single, long, bayonet-like preopercular spine, reaching to or just posterior to opercular margin; gill rakers on first gill arch 15-21, slender; interopercular flap absent. Scales small, finely ctenoid, deciduous, covering body and most of head; lateral line scales smaller than adjacent scales on side, anterior 0-2 scales with a weak spine, single pored. First dorsal fin spinous with very short base, first spine very short, second longest, strongest and grooved on either side. Second dorsal fin with moderately long base, originating closer to hypural than snout tip, anterior rays longest, decreasing in length posteriorly. Anal fin similar in shape but lower, commencing about opposite second dorsal-fin origin. Caudal fin emarginate, slightly forked, upper lobe longest usually with an elongate filament at extremity. Pectoral fins short and rounded. Pelvic fins long, based below centre of pectoral fins, not reaching anal-fin origin, inner ray unbranched.

Colour:

Light tan or cream dorsally with a series of small oval blotches along sides; head with scattered violet spots and a dusky blotch on operculum; pale to whitish ventrally. Dorsal and caudal fins with scattered blackish spots; pelvic fins whitish; anal and pectoral fins dusky.

Fisheries:

Taken by trawls over soft bottoms at depths of 5-50 m.

Conservation Status:

None.

Other common names:

None.

Original citation:

Platycephalus ransonnetii Steindachner, 1876, Sitzungsber. Akad. Wiss. Wien 74: 209, Singapore.

References:

Eschmeyer, W.N. (2008) The Catalogue of Fishes on-line. (California Academy of Sciences: San Francisco) Available from: http://www.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp (15 March, 2008).

Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & Allen, G.R. (2006) Fishes. In: P.L. Beesley & A. Wells (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia Volume 35. Parts 1-3. Australian Biological Resources Study and CSIRO Publishing, 2248 pp.

Knapp, L.W. (1999) Family Platycephalidae, flatheads, pp. 2385-2421. In: K.E. Carpenter & V.H. Niem (eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 4: Bony Fishes Part 2 (Mugilidae to Carangidae). Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

McCulloch, A.R. (1914) Report on some fishes obtained by the F. I. S. "Endeavour" on the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South and South-western Australia. Part II. Biol. Results "Endeavour" 2(3): 77-165.

Sainsbury, K.J., Kailola, P.J. & Leyland, G.C. (1985) Continental Shelf Fishes of Northern and North-western Australia. Canberra, C.S.I.R.O. Division of Fisheries Research, 375 pp.