| Platycephalus Temporal range: Early Eocene to Present[1] |
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|---|---|
| an unidentified Platycephalid | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
| Family: | Platycephalidae |
| Genus: | Platycephalus Bloch, 1795 |
| Species | |
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See text. |
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Platycephalus is a genus of mostly-marine, bottom-dwelling fish in the family Platycephalidae.
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The name of the genus, Platycephalus is derived from the Greek words for "flat" and "head". This quite literally describes the major morphological distinguishing characteristic of the members of the genus (and the family).
The term was first used by Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1795, even though some of its species like P. indicus's descriptions predate the genus' coinage.
The genus Platycephalus was also used to erroneously describe a species not closely related to the flathead family. The species once described as Platycephalus undecimalis is now properly classified as, Centropomus undecimalis, the common snook.