Batfish at Hantu

You found me!

Cruising along the patch reef along handy West on Monday, 17th January, I was made a friend by a huge and mature Teira Batfish Platax teira. I would've missed it if I hadn't looked up for a second to view the reef along my right shoulder (I was squinting at the reef looking for macrolife). This extreme friendly fish followed me for a good minute or two before swimming back down into the blue. I wasn't too deep, about 10m. Yup, Hantu always manages to pleasantly surprise me...

Teira Batfish are distinguished by the presence of a dark blotch below the pectoral fin, and a second elongated, dark mark above the origin of the anal fin. Viewed from the side, the body is roughly circular with a low hump on the nape (the area behind the eye). They are silver, grey or brownish.

Juveniles of this species have very long dorsal and anal fins. These become relatively shorter as the fish grows.

This species is recorded though much of the tropical Indo-West Pacific. They are found in shallow coastal habitats to deeper offshore, from tropical to temperate marine waters.

It grows to 60cm in length.

Reference: Australian Museum Online