Platax orbicularis - The body of the round batfish is disc shaped and extremely thin with the tail making up almost 20% of the total body length. The fish can grow to lengths of 50 centimeters and is usually found in brackish waters and in the vicinity of coral reefs. Juveniles tend to stay in shallow waters featuring mangroves or sheltered lagoons and they are solitary. As adults, the batfish moves into deeper water and begins to cluster in small groups; occasionally they form large schools.
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Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch explorer, was the first European to sight Samoa in 1722. The Tripartite Convention of 1899 partitioned the Samoan Islands between Germany and the United States. Germany lost its holdings to New Zealand in 1914; the United States remains in control the eastern half of the islands. The western half, calling itself Western Samoa, was granted independence from New Zealand in 1962. The name of the country was changed by dropping the “Western” in 1997.
