Orbicular batfish
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The orbicular batfish is a fish that also eats jellyfish.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Orbicular batfish
- Scientific name
- Platax orbicularis
- Japanese name
- ナンヨウツバメウオ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Order
- Ephippiformes
- Family
- Ephippidae
- Genus
- Platax
Where the name “Orbicular batfish” comes from
The name tsubameuo comes from the young fish looking like a swallow.
栃木県なかがわ水遊園It lives widely from Japan's Pacific coast and the Ryukyus across the Indo-Pacific.
How the Orbicular batfish lives
Young fish live in seagrass meadows and mangrove areas in shallow water. Adults occur from coastal lagoons to reefs farther out at sea. Adults may live alone or form schools. It is believed to lay eggs in the open ocean.
Georgia AquariumBasic data
- Range
- Yakushima, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific excluding Hawaii, and elsewhere
Where the Orbicular batfish has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ナンヨウツバメウオ
- 简体中文
- 圆眼燕鱼
- 繁體中文
- 圓眼燕魚
- 한국어
- 남방제비활치
- Español
- Pez murciélago orbicular
- Français
- Platax orbiculaire
- Deutsch
- Rundkopf-Fledermausfisch
- Português (Brasil)
- Peixe-bumerangue-costeiro
- Italiano
- Pesce pipistrello bruno
- العربية
- سمك الخفاش الدائري
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Gebel bundar
- Русский
- Голубой платакс
- ไทย
- ปลาหูช้างกลม
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — ナンヨウツバメウオChecked: 2026-11-04
- 栃木県なかがわ水遊園 — ナンヨウツバメウオChecked: 2026-11-07
- Georgia Aquarium — Orbicular BatfishChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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