Ephippidae

Fricke, Ronald, Allen, Gerald R., Andréfouët, Serge, Chen, Wei-Jen, Hamel, Mélanie A., Laboute, Pierre, Mana, Ralph, Hui, Tan Heok & Uyeno, Daisuke, 2014, Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of Madang District, Papua New Guinea, western Pacific Ocean, with 820 new records, Zootaxa 3832 (1), pp. 1-247 : 179

Ephippidae

Platax orbicularis (Forsskål in Niebuhr, 1775) —Round batfish

STATUS AT MADANG. New record from Madang, based on aspecimen observed in Madang Harbour on 25 Oct. 2012; another collected by a local fisherman and photographed on the central Barrier Reef on 27 Oct. 2012. Specimens observed and photographed at St. CTR 13, CTR 16, CTR 16B. AMS, USNM and WAM material (AMS I.16755-002; USNM 207100; WAM P.30617-011).

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. Red Sea, East and South Africa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Tuamotu Archipelago, north to southern Japan, south to Western Australia, New Caledonia, and Tonga. Introduced into West Atlantic waters off Florida, USA. Found in shallow protected coastal waters to deep, somewhat silty habitats; juveniles occur singly or in small groups among inner sheltered lagoons while adults move out to open waters over sandy areas of deep lagoons, channels, and seaward coral reefs, 1– 30 m. Transitional water and marine.

Platax teira (Forsskål in Niebuhr, 1775) —Blunthead batfish, longfin batfish

STATUS AT MADANG. New record from Madang, based on specimens photographed at St. CTR 16, and by A. Berberian. AMS material (AMS I.16755-001).

DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT. Red Sea, East and South Africa; Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Northern Marianas, Solomon and Loyalty islands, north to southern Japan and Ogasawara Islands, south to northern Australia, Norfolk Island and northern New Zealand. Adults are found in sheltered bays as well as deep offshore, associated with coral reefs; juveniles with floating debris and form aggregations, 0– 20 m. Transitional water and marine.