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)

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The longtail butterfly ray is a species of butterfly ray, family Gymnuridae, native to the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to southern Japan and western Indonesia. Growing up to 92 cm (36 in) across, this ray has a lozenge-shaped pectoral fin disc about twice as wide as long, colored brown to gray above with many small, light spots. The spiracles behind its eyes have smooth rims. This species can be identified by its tail, which is about as long as the snout-to-vent distance, lacks fins, and bears nine to twelve each of alternating black and white bands.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spiny butterfly ray</span> Species of cartilaginous fish

The spiny butterfly ray or giant butterfly ray is a species of butterfly ray, family Gymnuridae, native to the shallow coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A large ray that can measure over 2 m across, it may be distinguished from the sympatric smooth butterfly ray by the spine at the base of its tail and by a small tentacular structure on the margin of each spiracle. Slow-reproducing and valued for its meat, in recent decades its population has experienced a decline of over 30%, and it has become Critically Endangered in certain parts of its range.

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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.