PLATAX TEIRA - (FORSSKAL, 1775)
Picture courtesy of: Jack Berthomier (Flicker)
Platax à longues nageoires, Platax à grandes ailes, Platax à grandes nageoires, Platax pointillé, Poisson chauve-souris teira, Tall fin batfish, Teira batfish, Longfin batfish, Longfin spadefish, Round faced batfish, Roundface batfish, Langflossen-Fledermausfisch, Langfinnet flagermusfisk, Langvin vleermuisvis, Pesce pipistrello pinna lunga, Mikazuki-tsubame-uo, ツバメウオ, 깃털제비활치, 燕鱼, 尖翅燕魚, Cá Nhạn, ปลาหูช้างครีบยาว,
Description
Épines dorsales (Total) : 5-6; Rayons mous dorsaux (Total) : 28-37; Épines anales : 3; Rayons mous anaux : 22-28; Rayons nageoires pectorales : 16-18; Ecailles ligne latérale : 48-53. Poisson à la silhouette arrondie et au front bossu. La bouche est petite. Son corps est fortement comprimé latéralement, la voûte dorsale est élevée, avec au moins deux bandes verticales noires, dont une au niveau de l'œil, et l'autre au niveau de la bordure postérieure de l'opercule sans épine. Présence d'une tache noire, juste devant la nageoire anale. Cette tache est parfois difficile à distinguer, car elle se confond avec une des bandes sombres. Nageoires ventrale et anale peuvent être jaunes souvent bordées d'une marge noire. Chez les juvéniles les nageoires anale, dorsale et pelviennes ont un fort développement vertical, ce qui leur donne un corps beaucoup plus élevé que long. Taille maximum : 70.0 cm TL. Profondeur : 3 - 25 m.
Etymologie
Platax : du Grec ancien, platús = plat, large.
teira : de l'arabe, teïra = couloir entre des alignements de dunes dans le désert. Nom donnée par les arabes à ce poisson en référence à l'étroitesse de son corps. En Arabie le juvénile de ce poisson est nomé ainsi alors que l'adulte est nomé daakar.
Description originale : Chaetodon teira Forsskål, 1775 - Localité type : Al-Luhayya, Yemen, Mer Rouge.
Distribution
Mer Rouge, Pacifique Indo-Ouest : Est de l'Afrique, Afrique du Sud, Madagascar et Ouest des Mascareignes vers l'Est, Nord des îles Mariannes, îles Salomon, Nouvelle-Calédonie, au Nord, du Sud du Japon et les îles Ogasawara, au Sud, Australie, île de Norfolk, Nouvelle-Zélande; Méditerranée (Immigration par la mer Rouge).
Biologie
Présent en groupe près des récifs coralliens ou en pleine eau. Les juvéniles fréquentent les zones récifales superficielles et protégées. Poisson omnivore qui consomme algues, méduses et zooplancton, ainsi que de petits crustacés benthiques. Il n'y a pas de dimorphisme sexuel. Les œufs fécondés deviennent des larves et ont une phase pélagique en dehors du récif d'où ils proviennent. Ces larves transparentes y retournent une fois qu'elles ont grandi. La larve du Platax teira commence à prendre une couleur plus sombre à partir de 5 mm et la bande sur l'œil se met en place. Ces poissons peuvent changer rapidement de couleur et, par ce moyen, montrer aux poissons nettoyeurs qu'ils sont disposés à recevoir leurs soins.
Espèces ressemblantes
Platax batavianus (Cuvier, 1831) - Présent dans le Pacifique Indo-Ouest : Malaysie, Indonésie, Philippines, Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée et Australie.
Platax orbicularis (Forsskål, 1775) - Présent en Nouvelle-Calédonie - Lien vers l'espèce (ici).
Platax pinnatus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Présent en Nouvelle-Calédonie.
Platax pinnatus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Présent en Nouvelle-Calédonie.
Zabidius novemaculeatus (McCulloch, 1916) - Présent en Australie et Nouvelle-Guinée.
Synonymes
Chaetodon arthriticus (Bell, 1793)
Chaetodon ecanbonna (Suckow, 1799)
Chaetodon teira (Forsskål, 1775)
Chetodon daakar (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Platax leschenalti (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax punctulatus (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax raynaldi (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax teria (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax terra (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax tiera (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax vespertilio japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
Platax xanthopus (Bleeker, 1850)
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Description
Dorsal spines (total): 5-6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 28-37; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 22-28; Pectoral fins ray: 16-18; Lateral-line scales: 48-53. Body orbicular and strongly compressed, its depth more than twice length of head and 0.9 to 1.2 times SL. Head length: 2.7 to 3.5 times in SL. Large adults (above 35 cm SL) with bony hump from top of head to interorbital region, the front head profile almost vertical. Interorbital width 42 to 50% head length. Jaws with bands of slender, flattened, tricuspid teeth, the middle cusp slightly longer than lateral cusps. Vomer with a few teeth, but none on palatines. Five pores on each side of lower jaw. Preopercle smooth. Opercle without spines. Max length: 70.0 cm TL. Depth range: 3 - 25 m.
Color
Ocular band of adult specimens uniformly dark. Yellowish silvery or dusky, with a black (or dusky) bar through eye and another dark bar from dorsal-fin origin across rear edge of operculum and pectoral-fin base to belly, where it usually encloses a black blotch, with another smaller black vertical streak often present at origin of anal fin. Median fins dusky yellow, with black margins posteriorly. Pelvic fins yellow, dusky yellow or blackish.
Etymology
Platax: from ancient Greek, platús = flat, wide.
teira: from Arabic word, teïra = corridor between desert sand dunes alignments. In reference to the flat shape of this fish. In Arabia peninsula the juvenile is named teïra, and the adult daakar.
Original description: Chaetodon teira Forsskål, 1775 - Type locality: Al-Luhayya, Yemen, Red Sea.
Distribution
Red Sea, Indo-West Pacific: East Africa, South Africa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Northern Marianas, Solomon Islands and Loyalty Islands (New Caledonia), north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to Western Australia, Queensland (Australia), Norfolk Island, New Zealand (vagrant); Mediterranean Sea (Red Sea immigrant).
Biology
Large adults live in sheltered bays as well as deep offshore. Commonly found around shipwrecks in small groups and occasionally forms large schools. Small juveniles with floating debris and form aggregations as they find each other. They can be pelagic to large sizes and form schools under large Sargassum rafts that usually form after the wet season. Juveniles inhabit shallow protected inner reefs while adults occur in lagoon and seaward reefs. Omnivore - feeds on zooplankton, benthic invertebrates and algae. Of minor commercial importance in parts of its range. The long-finned juveniles are popular aquarium fishes.
Similar species
Platax batavianus (Cuvier, 1831) - Reported from Indo-West Pacific: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Synonymes
Chaetodon arthriticus (Bell, 1793)
Chaetodon ecanbonna (Suckow, 1799)
Chaetodon teira (Forsskål, 1775)
Chetodon daakar (Bonnaterre, 1788)
Platax leschenalti (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax punctulatus (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax raynaldi (Cuvier, 1831)
Platax teria (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax terra (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax tiera (Forsskål, 1775)
Platax vespertilio japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)
Platax xanthopus (Bleeker, 1850)
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Description
Dorsal spines (total): 5-6; Dorsal soft rays (total): 28-37; Anal spines: 3; Anal soft rays: 22-28; Pectoral fins ray: 16-18; Lateral-line scales: 48-53. Body orbicular and strongly compressed, its depth more than twice length of head and 0.9 to 1.2 times SL. Head length: 2.7 to 3.5 times in SL. Large adults (above 35 cm SL) with bony hump from top of head to interorbital region, the front head profile almost vertical. Interorbital width 42 to 50% head length. Jaws with bands of slender, flattened, tricuspid teeth, the middle cusp slightly longer than lateral cusps. Vomer with a few teeth, but none on palatines. Five pores on each side of lower jaw. Preopercle smooth. Opercle without spines. Max length: 70.0 cm TL. Depth range: 3 - 25 m.
Color
Ocular band of adult specimens uniformly dark. Yellowish silvery or dusky, with a black (or dusky) bar through eye and another dark bar from dorsal-fin origin across rear edge of operculum and pectoral-fin base to belly, where it usually encloses a black blotch, with another smaller black vertical streak often present at origin of anal fin. Median fins dusky yellow, with black margins posteriorly. Pelvic fins yellow, dusky yellow or blackish.
Etymology
Platax: from ancient Greek, platús = flat, wide.
teira: from Arabic word, teïra = corridor between desert sand dunes alignments. In reference to the flat shape of this fish. In Arabia peninsula the juvenile is named teïra, and the adult daakar.
Original description: Chaetodon teira Forsskål, 1775 - Type locality: Al-Luhayya, Yemen, Red Sea.
Distribution
Red Sea, Indo-West Pacific: East Africa, South Africa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Northern Marianas, Solomon Islands and Loyalty Islands (New Caledonia), north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to Western Australia, Queensland (Australia), Norfolk Island, New Zealand (vagrant); Mediterranean Sea (Red Sea immigrant).
Biology
Large adults live in sheltered bays as well as deep offshore. Commonly found around shipwrecks in small groups and occasionally forms large schools. Small juveniles with floating debris and form aggregations as they find each other. They can be pelagic to large sizes and form schools under large Sargassum rafts that usually form after the wet season. Juveniles inhabit shallow protected inner reefs while adults occur in lagoon and seaward reefs. Omnivore - feeds on zooplankton, benthic invertebrates and algae. Of minor commercial importance in parts of its range. The long-finned juveniles are popular aquarium fishes.
Similar species
Platax batavianus (Cuvier, 1831) - Reported from Indo-West Pacific: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Platax orbicularis (Forsskål, 1775) - Reported from New Caledonia - Link to the species (here).
Platax pinnatus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Reported from New Caledonia.
Platax pinnatus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Reported from New Caledonia.
Zabidius novemaculeatus (McCulloch, 1916) - Reported from Australia and New Guinea.