COMMON NAMES: Broadhead Flathead, Sand Flathead; French Poisson-crocodile à Tête Large

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Cooks; n. to s.Japan; s. to GBR

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

KEY FEATURES: To 30cm SL; elongate, tappering, strongly depressed body. Generally light to mid-brown, with about 5 indistinct dark saddles; covered with dark brown and white spots and flecks. P fins with brown mottling and bands. Overshot lower lip has 4 dark bands, and the lips do NOT have protruding skin-flaps (papillae). The gap between the eyes is 50% or more of the eyeball's longest diameter.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Thysanophrys otaitensis (Fringelip Flathead) is very similar in colour, body banding, and wide interorbital gap. However, Fringelip Flathead has small flaps or papillae on the lips. Thysanophrys chiltonae (Longsnout Flathead), which also lacks lip papillae, has a longer snout, and the gap between the eyes is less than 25% of the eyeball's longest diameter. (This species has NOT been recorded in the Cooks but has a distribution from e.Africa to the Marquesas.)