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Regan's Ghost Flathead Hoplichthys regani Jordan, 1908
[CAAB 37 297007]

Distribution Map see an interactive map here (new window)

Distribution, ecology and habitat:

Benthic on the continental shelf of the western Pacific (Japan, Indonesia and South China Sea) and southeastern Indian Ocean off northern Western Australia. Australian distribution is limited to he Northwest Shelf, north of Broome.

Size:

Maximum standard length at least 14 cm, possibly to 23 cm total length.

Food and feeding:

Food items of Hoplichthys species include fishes and decapod crustaceans.

Characteristics:

D VI, 15; A 16; P 12 + 3l V I, 5; Llat. (scutes) 28.

Body depressed, shallow (~6-8% SL), elongate, moderately narrow, tapering to very narrow caudal peduncle. Head moderately large (~26-30% SL), very broad and depressed, eyes of moderate size (~22-30% HL); interorbital space very narrow; its width ~24% eye diameter; mouth large (upper jaw length 27-36% HL), horizontal;

snout moderately short. A cluster of spines on underside of head beside maxilla; head ridges strongly spined. Lateral line scales in one row, each lateral scute with a single strong spine. Two dorsal fins, first small, widely separated from second, second with long base; first dorsal fin relatively high, reaching to base of 2^nd dorsal ray when depressed. Pectoral fin short, the lower detached rays reaching tip of fin. In males, rays of second dorsal fin produced and filamentous (first, middle and last rays noticeably longer). Anal fin similar to and opposite second dorsal but extending slightly farther posteriorly; caudal fin slightly rounded.

Colour:

Three broad orange blotches across body, lower caudal fin lobe orange; sometimes black edge to anal fin.

Fisheries:

Usually taken in trawls, although not commercially harvested.

Conservation Status:

None.

Other common names:

Ghost Flathead.

Original citation:

Hoplichthys regani, Jordan 1908, American Naturalist 42(504): 800, Kagoshima, Japan.

References:

Allen, G.R. (1997). Marine fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and south-east Asia. Western Australian Museum, Perth. 1-292.

Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. (1988) The marine fishes of north-western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Western Australian Museum, Perth.: I-vi + 1-201, 1-70.

Gloerfelt-Tarp, T. & Kailola, P.J. (1984) Trawled Fishes of Southern Indonesia and Northwestern Australia. Canberra: Australian Development Assistance Bureau, 406 pp.

Matsubara, K. and A. Ochiai (1950). Studies on Hoplichthyidae, a family of mail-cheeked fishes found in Japan and its adjacent waters. I, II and III. Jpn. J. Ichthyol. 1 (2-3): 73-88, 145-156.

McGrouther, M.A. in Randall, J. E. and K. K. P. Lim (2000) A checklist of the fishes of the South China Sea. Raffles Bull. Zool. Supplement  8: 569-667.

McGrouther, M.A. (1999). Family Hoplichthyidae. Pp. 2422-2424 In Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome. FAO Vol. 4 pp. 2069-2790.

Nakabo, T. (2002) (ed.) Fishes of Japan with pictorial keys to the species, English edition. Tokai University Press. Fish. Japan Pict. Keys Species v. 1, 866 pp.

Ochiai, A. (1984) In Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino (1984). The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Tokai Univ. Press. 370 pp.

Paxton, J.R., Gates, J.E. McGrouther, M.A. & Hoese, D.F. (2006). Hoplichthyidae (pp. 949-950). In: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. Fishes.