Butterfly ray

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Butterfly rays
Gymnura micrura .jpg
Smooth butterfly ray (G. micrura)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Clade: Batomorphi
Order: Myliobatiformes
Family: Gymnuridae
Fowler, 1934
Genus: Gymnura
van Hasselt, 1823
Type species
Gymnura micrura
Bloch & Schneider, 1801
Synonyms
  • AetoplateaValenciennes in J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841
  • Dasyatis Gray, 1851
  • PhanerocephalusGratzianov, 1906
  • PteroplateaJ. P. Müller & Henle, 1837

The butterfly rays are the rays forming the genus Gymnura and the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.

Contents

The body of butterfly rays is flattened and surrounded by an extremely broad disc formed by the pectoral fins, which merge in front of the head. They have a very short, thread-like, tail. [1] They are up to 4 m (13 ft) in width. [2]

McEachran et al. (1996) place the butterfly rays in the subfamily Gymnurinae of the family Dasyatidae, [3] but this article follows FishBase and ITIS in treating them as a family. [4] [5]

Species

There are currently 12 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms): [2] [6] [7]

Diet

These species commonly prey on fish, crustaceans and mollusks.

Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela) Butterfly ray.jpg
Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela)

References

  1. Stevens, J. & Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 69. ISBN   0-12-547665-5.
  2. 1 2 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Gymnura". FishBase . January 2017 version.
  3. McEachran JD, Dunn KA, Miyake T (1996). "Interrelationships of the batoid fishes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". In Stiassny ML, Parenti LR, Johnson GD (eds.). Interrelationships of Fishes. Academic Press.
  4. Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Gymnuridae". FishBase . January 2006 version.
  5. "Gymnuridae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved 27 March 2006.
  6. Last P, White W, de Carvalho M, Séret B, Stehmann M, Naylor G, eds. (2016). "Supplementary information". The Rays of the World project - an explanation of nomenclatural decisions. CSIRO. pp. 1–10. ISBN   978-0-643109131.
  7. Yokota L, de Carvalho MR (2017). "Taxonomic and morphological revision of butterfly rays of Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) species complex, with the description of two new species (Myliobatiformes: Gymnuridae)" . Zootaxa. 4332 (1): 1–74. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4332.1.1. PMID   29242452.