Guitarfish

Guitarfish
Temporal range: Upper Jurassic–Recent

[1]

Shovelnose guitarfish, Pseudobatos productus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Rhinopristiformes
Family: Rhinobatidae
J. P. Müller & Henle, 1837
Genera

The guitarfish are a family, Rhinobatidae, of rays. The guitarfish are known for an elongated body with a flattened head and trunk and small, ray-like wings. The combined range of the various species is tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate waters worldwide.

Description

Guitarfish have a body form intermediate between those of sharks and rays. The tail has a typical shark-like form, but in many species, the head has a triangular, or guitar-like shape, rather than the disc-shape formed by fusion with the pectoral fins found in other rays.[2]

Reproduction

Guitarfish are ovoviviparous; the embryo matures inside an egg inside the mother until it is ready to hatch. This is typical of rays.

Habitat

Guitarfish are bottom feeders which bury themselves in mud or sand and eat worms, crabs, and clams.[3] Some can tolerate salt, fresh, and brackish water.[4] They generally live close to the beach/coastline or in estuaries.[4]

Classification

Nelson's 2006 Fishes of the World recognized four genera in this family: Aptychotrema, Rhinobatos, Trygonorrhina, and Zapteryx; other taxa once placed in the Rhinobatidae, such as Platyrhinoidis and Rhina, have since been moved to their own families. Recently, the genus Glaucostegus has again become recognized as distinct from Rhinobatos.

Rhinobatos has been split in three genera based on genetic and morphological considerations: Rhinobatos, Acroteriobatus and Pseudobatos. Tarsistes is dubious and may be a synonym of Pseudobatos, and other genera formerly included in Rhinobatidae have been moved to Glaucostegidae, Rhinidae and Trygonorrhinidae.[5][6][7]

References

  1. ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Rhinobatidae" in FishBase. February 2011 version.
  2. ↑ Stevens, J.; Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N., eds. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
  3. ↑ "Shovelnose guitarfish, Sandy Seafloor, Fishes, Rhinobatos productus at the Monterey Bay Aquarium". Monterey Bay Aquarium. Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  4. 1 2 Sullivan, Taylor. "FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Atlantic Guitarfish". Florida Museum of Natural History. Florida Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  5. ↑ Last; White; de Carvalho; Séret; Stehmann; and Naylor, eds. (2016). Rays of the World. CSIRO. ISBN 9780643109148.
  6. ↑ Naylor, G.J.P., Caira, J.N., Jensen, K., Rosana, K.A.M., Straube, N. & Lakner, C. (2012). Carrier, J.C., Musick, J.A. & Heithaus, M.R., ed. Elasmobranch Phylogeny: A Mitochondrial Estimate Based on 595 Species. Biology of Sharks and Their Relatives (2 ed.). CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. pp. 31–56.
  7. ↑ Last, P.R., Séret, B. & Naylor, G.J.P. (2016). "A new species of guitarfish, Rhinobatos borneensis sp. nov. with a redefinition of the family-level classification in the order Rhinopristiformes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". Zootaxa. 4117 (4): 451–475. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4117.4.1.
  8. 1 2 Last, White & Fahmi 2006 (2006). "Rhinobatos jimbaranensis and R. penggali, two new shovelnose rays (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from eastern Indonesia.". Cybium. 30 (3): 262ff.
  9. ↑ Peter R. Last; Leonard J.V. Compagno; Kazuhiro Nakaya (2004). "Rhinobatos nudidorsalis, a new species of shovelnose ray (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from the Mascarene Ridge, central Indian Ocean". Ichthyological Research. 51 (2): 153–158. doi:10.1007/s10228-004-0211-0.
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