flathead

[will]

was reading an article in a fishing mag the other day about flathead.it was saying that there is no scientific proof that the large flathead do turn into females,there has been no internal organs found in the fish to prove this thoery. that there is both male an female larger fish.un like the barra which they have found to change sex.the study was done by some scientist on sand flathead i think it was and they believe it to be the same for dusky flathead. i will try find the mag i was reading an let u no the name ,just wanting to no what people,s thoughts r ,u here so many people calling them females when it may not be the case cheers will

[will]

the article was in moden fishing november 2007 it is believed that the dusky flathead changes sex because it is related to several species found in japan such as the lizard flathead (inegocia japonica) these flatgead do change sex. cheers will

[kreel]

Hi Will,

I work at the Queensland Museum and decided to ask the question of one of our ichtheologists (Jeffrey Johnson ) about flathead. Jeff tells me that there is no scientific research to conclude that flatties are in fact hermaphrodidic and that the reality is that female flatties just grow larger than males. He tells me that the males grow to 50 - 60cm and that females grow much larger.

Jeff had been asked the same question a few months ago and had in the past few days deleted the info he sent back to that person, however he did tell me that there are some post grad students doing research into the subject at the moment - no indication when that info will be made available though.

So according to Jeff above 60cm its Mrs Flattie :laugh: and below 60?

Its an interesting question though, I've read it as fact in so many publications and never thought to ask someone that might actually know.

[mangler]

That is quite interesting, I've heard many stories either confirming or denying that the larger flathead turn into females, many I believed to be old fisherman tales. The explanation that the female flathead simply grows larger seems much more plausible.

Cheers,

Matt

[Mick]

I opened a 63cm flatty that I assumed was still male only to find it female and full or eggs ... DOH!!!!

[jeff f]

was a research project done in W.A. last year that proved dusky flathead do not change sex

females grow larger and faster than males

[will]

yes jeff the research u r talking about is the 1 that i was reading was done in wa.in that same study there was tests done on the genus platycephalus which includes dusky/southern blue-spotted/sand/tiger and bar-tail flathead the females all grew bigger and none of the studies found any evidence of sexchangers in these species.the study was done through the fish and fisheries research at murdoch uni in w.a. the study was done on the yellowtail flathead platycephalus endrachtensis. this flathead does share the characteristics of females an males having markedly different growth rates same as the genus platycephalus.tissue was taken from the yellowtail flathead,s reproductive organs and no evidence was found that the flathead changed sex.when reading this article it is saying that these flathead do not change sex,that the bigger fish r females it that they do grow bigger then the males its all in there gene. i will try to scan the story so u can all read the fact urself an make ur own mind up cheers will p.s. sorry its so long