Common Sandfish

Lesueurina platycephala

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–10 m
Water temperature14–24 °C
Best monthsJanuary, July, and October
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Lesueurina platycephala, the flathead pygmy-stargazer, is a species of southern sandfish endemic to the coastal waters of southern Australia. It occurs in areas with a sandy substrate and turbulent waters at depths of from near the surface to 1 metre (3.3 ft). This species grows to a length of 11 centimetres (4.3 in) SL. This species is the only known member of its genus. It is an ambush predator which occurs from Fraser Island in Queensland south along the Australian coast, including Tasmania, and west to Coral Bay, Western Australia. The generic name honours the French artist and naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) who visited Australia on the vessels Géographe and Naturaliste under the leadership of Nicolas Baudin (1880-1804) and who later worked as an ichthyologist in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Lesueurina platycephala”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 52 records
February: 22 records
March: 31 records
April: 31 records
May: 25 records
June: 15 records
July: 38 records
August: 36 records
September: 3 records
October: 62 records
November: 11 records
December: 10 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–10 m · Deepest record: 58.5 m

0–10 m: 22 records
10–20 m: 1 records
20–30 m: 0 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–24 °C

12–14 °C: 2 records
14–16 °C: 31 records
16–18 °C: 20 records
18–20 °C: 191 records
20–22 °C: 43 records
22–24 °C: 20 records
24–26 °C: 1 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Common Sandfish, Flathead Pygmy-stargazer, Flathead Sandfish, Sandfish

Other scientific names: Crapatalus arenarius

Similar species

sandfish
Crapatalus angusticeps
sandfish
Crapatalus novaezelandiae
Estuary Stargazer
Leptoscopus macropygus
Munro's Pygmy-stargazer
Crapatalus munroi

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
398 open-data records from 1902 to 2017.
Species data updated November 4, 2026.

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