Journal of the Marine Biological Association of India

On the fishes of the family Platycephalidae of the seas around India

Volume 17 Issue 3

V. Sriramachandra Murthy

Abstract

The fishes of the family Platycephalidaet popularly called "Flatheads" widely distributed in the Indio-Pacific region are of some commercial importance. Thirteen species of flatheads are so far Known to occur in the Indian Seas as reported by Day (1878), Munro (1955), de Beaufort and Briggs (1962) and others. As to their taxonomy, especially at their generic level, opinions vary among ichthyologists who studied the group. In view of their fishery importance along some parts of the Indian Coastland because of the paucity of any detailed information on the species, a comprehensive study of the group has been made, based on the collections made by the author from different parts of the Indian Coast and the material available in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. These have been compared with the descriptions of the type specimens available in the Museum National d 'Histoire Naturelle, Paris and Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden. Detailed descriptions, distribution, synonymy and key to identification of genera and species of flatheads occuring along the Indian Coast are given in this paper.

Date : 30-12-1975