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Bothus mancus

Pāteretere

Peacock Flounder

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Midway - Adult	39KB
Video:	on Rarotonga (© Karl Traylor)	457KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Peacock Flounder, Flowery Flounder, Left-eye Flounder, Flounder, Tropical Flounder; German Pfauenaugen-Butt; French Turbot Tropical, Flet Tropical, Rombou Tropical

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Pāteretere (RR), Pāteretere / Pātiki Terevare (MG), Pātiki < Raupuka (AT), Patiki (MK), Pātiki (MT AK), Pātiki Rara (PL), Pātiki Pālahalaha (TS), Pātiki Pāraharaha (TW), Pātuki Pāraharaha (MH RK), Ali (PK); Other Polynesian - Patii (TAH), Pirerehi (TUA), Tatii (MQA), Parapatiki (MVA)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Easter, Hawai; n. to s.Japan; s. to Lord Howe

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; S.Group and N.Group. Common. PLUS:; Marine, near-shore, lagoon and reef-flat, over sand

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Prized, but bony

KEY FEATURES: To 45cm SL. Oval, flat with both eyes on leftside, mouth protruding and 'face' concave. Changes colour rapidly depending on substrate; generally blue-grey with small dark spots, and large pale spots some "flower-like" with blue rims. Lower eye on line from mouth to Pectoral, upper eye barely overlaps lower eye (0-10%). Males develop elongate Pectoral.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Leopard Flounder () has a rounded 'face' (vs.concave), non-protruding mouth (vs. protruding), and eyes overlap about 50% (vs.0-10%)

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+++	^P	^P	^P		^+++	P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P		P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Bothus mancus (Broussonet, 1782)
SYNONYMS: Platophrys mancus; Pleuronectes mancus [O]

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Pleuronectiformes; Pleuronectoidei; BOTHIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Mangaia: field-specimen, College, 9/2000, ID GMcC. Atiu: field-specimen, College collection, 10/2000, ID GMcC. Mauke: fieldspecimen, College, 3/2001, ID GMcC. Aitutaki: field-specimen+photo, College collection, 11/2000, ID GMcC; fieldsight-detail, lagoon, 12/2000, GMcC. Palmerston: Photo06 (G&S85); Listed (Preston95). Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Bothus mancus. Suwarrow: field ID N.Sims (Sims EIA99).

References:
text p.255 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 134d Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.449 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
plate 131-05 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
Species No. p128 Munro (1967) Fishes of New Guinea

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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