Longfin batfish

Platax teira, also known as the teira batfish, longfin batfish, longfin spadefish, or round faced batfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Ephippidae, the spadefishes and batfishes. This species is found in the Indo-West Pacific.

Distribution

Platax teira has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the Red Sea and East Africa to Papua New Guinea, north to the Ryukyu Islands, south to Australia. It has also been recorded in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand. In Australia it can be found from the central coast of Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south to the southern coast of New South Wales. In India it was reported from the Gulf of Mannar following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. It has been reported twice recently in the Mediterranean Sea, off Turkey and Israel.

They are known to reside among floating seaweed, debris, and artificial reefs. The species occurs in shallow coastal habitats to deeper offshore.