Butterfly ray
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Butterfly rays | |
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| Smooth butterfly ray, Gymnura micrura | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Rajiformes |
| Family: | Gymnuridae |
| Genera | |
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The butterfly rays are a group of rays in the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.
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 range from 31 centimetres (12 in) to 4 metres (13 ft) in body length.[2]
McEachran et al. 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]
Contents |
[edit] Genera and species
There are fourteen species in two genera:[2]
[edit] Aetoplatea
This genus is distinguished from Gymnura by having a small dorsal fin.[6]
- Tentacled butterfly ray, Aetoplatea tentaculata Müller & Henle, 1841 [1]
- Zonetail butterfly ray, Aetoplatea zonura Bleeker, 1852 [2]
[edit] Gymnura
This genus differs from Aetoplatea in lacking a dorsal fin.[6] Fossils of this genus are known back to the Cenomanian.[7]
- Gymnura afuerae (Hildebrand, 1946) [3]
- Spiny butterfly ray, Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus, 1758) [4]
- Australian butterfly ray, Gymnura australis (Ramsay & Ogilby, 1886) [5]
- Twin-spot butterfly ray, Gymnura bimaculata (Norman, 1925) [6]
- Longsnout butterfly ray, Gymnura crebripunctata (Peters, 1869) [7]
- Gymnura crooki Fowler, 1934 [8]
- Madeira butterfly ray, Gymnura hirundo (Lowe, 1843) [9]
- Japanese butterfly ray, Gymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) [10]
- California butterfly ray, Gymnura marmorata (Cooper, 1864) [11]
- Smooth butterfly ray, Gymnura micrura (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) [12]
- Backwater butterfly ray, Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & Thompson, 1911) [13]
- Longtail butterfly ray, Gymnura poecilura (Shaw, 1804) [14]
[edit] References
- ^ Stevens, J. & Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 69. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ a b "Gymnuridae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2009 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2009.
- ^ J. D. McEachran, K. A. Dunn & T. Miyake (1996). "Interrelationships of the batoid fishes (Chondrichthyes: Batoidea)". in M. L. Stiassny, L. R. Parenti & G. D. Johnson (editors). Interrelationships of Fishes. Academic Press.
- ^ "Gymnuridae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- ^ Gymnuridae (TSN 564010). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 27 March 2006.
- ^ a b Randall, J.E. and Hoover, J.P. (1995). Coastal Fishes of Oman. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824818083.
- ^ Sepkoski, J.. "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Chondrichthyes entry)". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=575&rank=class. Retrieved January 9, 2008.
