Platax teira

(Forsskal, 1775)

Vernacular names
English : Longfin batfish
French : Poisson chauve-souris à longues nageoires

Classification
Class : Teleostei
Order : Acanthuriformes (sometimes still Perciformes)
Family : Ephippidae
Notes : No subspecies known.

Identification
Adults grow to 70 cm in length. Body more high than long and laterally compressed. Elongated dorsal and anal fins. Coloration often yellowish to olive-silvery with two dark vertical bars on head and flanks. Black blotch near yellow pelvic fins.

Range and habitat
The species occurs in the Indo-Pacific area, from Red Sea and east Africa to Papua New Guinea, north to south Japan, south to Australia. Lives in sheltered bays, deep offshore areas, often around wrecks, to 25 m.

Conservation
IUCN RED LIST : LEAST CONCERN
CITES : Not Listed
Status : The species is widespread and locally abundant. It is very rarely taken for subsistence by fishermen but is not part of large-scale fisheries.
Ex-Situ Programs : None known

Observation

 

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