Northern Sand Flathead, Platycephalus endrachtensis Quoy & Gaimard 1825

Other Names: Bar-tail Flathead, Bar-tailed Flathead, Flag-tail Flathead, Northern Sand Flathead, Northern-flag Tailed Flathead, Sand Flathead, Western Estuary Flathead, Yellowtail Flathead, Yellowtailed Flathead

A Northern Sand Flathead, Platycephalus endrachtensis, in the Minnamurra River estuary, New South Wales, July 2010. Source: Sascha Schultz / iNaturalist.org. License: CC BY Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:

A pale brown flathead covered in small brown spots, with four or more dark horizontal bars on the tail and the upper lobe lacking a yellow blotch.

Cite this page as:

CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research & Bray, D.J. 2020, Platycephalus endrachtensis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 19 Apr 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/3355

Northern Sand Flathead, Platycephalus endrachtensis Quoy & Gaimard 1825

More Info

Distribution	Hamelin Bay to Port Hedland, Western Australia, and Cliff Point, Queensland, to St Helens, Tasmania. Elsewhere the species occurs in Indonesia. Records from northern Australia are likely to be misidentifications of the Yellowtail Flathead, Platycephalus westraliae.
Features	Dorsal fin I, I, VI, I or I, VII, I or I, I, VII, I, 12-13; Anal fin 13-14; Pectoral fin 18-20 (usually 19 or 20); Pelvic fin I, 5; Gill rakers 9-13 (usually 10 or 11); Lateral line scales (pored) 67-81. Body elongate, slightly depressed. Head large (length 31-35% SL), strongly depressed, almost smooth, with several low, spineless ridges and one small preocular spine, lower edge bicarinate; eyes small (12-14% HL), iris lappet a simple elongated lobe; mouth large, reaching to level of mid-eye; teeth stout and acute, no greatly enlarged canines, teeth on vomer in a single transverse band; two strong preopercular spines at angle of preopercle, lower usually longer than upper, accessory spine usually absent on base of upper spine; interopercular flap present, finger-like. Scales small, finely ctenoid dorsally, cycloid ventrally, covering body and most of dorsal head; lateral line scales subequal to adjacent scales on side, ~93-109 oblique rows of scales above lateral line, anteriormost one or two scales with a small spine or ridge, a single opening on each scale. First dorsal fin spinous with short base, first and last spines very short and separated from others. Second dorsal fin with moderately long base, anterior rays longest, nearly as long as longest first dorsal spines. Anal fin similar in shape, opposite and slightly longer-based than second dorsal fin. Caudal fin truncate. Pectoral fins moderately small. Pelvic fins long, based below centre of pectoral fins.
Size	Females to 62 cm, males smaller, reaching 38 cm.
Colour	Head and body pale brown, with many small brownish spots dorsally, four or more dark longitudinal bands on caudal fin, and upper lobe of caudal fin lacking yellow blotch when fresh.
Feeding	Feeds mostly on fishes, and also consumes large benthic crustaceans.
Biology	The sexes are separate and fertilisation is external. Some individuals complete their life cycles entirely within estuaries. Females grow to a much larger size than males. In the Swan Estuary, Western Australia, Northern Sand Flathead complete their entire life cycle in the estuary. They spawn between late spring and early autumn. Individuals mature by the end of their second year and live to about 9 years.
Fisheries	Taken by angling and seine nets in shallow coastal waters and estuaries, and by trawls over soft bottoms in shallow coastal waters.
Conservation
Similar Species	The Northern Sand Flathead can be easily separated from the similar Platycephalus westraliae in having a triangular upper iris lappet (vs. broad, usually slightly bilobed, rarely pointed or mostly straight, in P. westraliae). P. endrachtensis also differs in having four or more horizontal dark bars on the caudal fin (vs. three or four in P. westraliae), and no yellow blotch on the tail. The similar Platycephalus australis differs in having the caudal fin with two dark horizontal bars on the upper lobe and a yellow blotch on the middle (vs four or more dark bars and no yellow blotch on the fin in P. endrachtensis).
Etymology	The specific name endrachtensis is derived from Eendraghtsland, an early Dutch name for Australia, and the suffix –ensis (= place), presumably in reference to the type locality of Shark Bay, Western Australia.
Species Citation	Platycephalus endrachtensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1825, Voyage Uranie, Zool. 1825: 353, Shark Bay, Western Australia.
Author	CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research & Bray, D.J. 2020
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Northern Sand Flathead, Platycephalus endrachtensis Quoy & Gaimard 1825

References

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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.

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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.