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 temperate waters worldwide. They often travel in large schools. [edit] Description Adult guitarfish grow to a length of between 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) and 1.8 metres (5.9 ft), but Rhynchobatus djiddensis can weigh 225 kilograms (500 lb) and grow to 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length. These fish are bottom feeders, preferring small crustaceans. Their teeth are small and numerous, usually arranged in 65 or 70 rows. Guitarfish are ovoviviparous, with the young hatching out of the eggs after leaving the mother's body.[2] Guitarfishes have a body form intermediate between those of sharks and rays. The tail has a typical ray-like form, but in many species the head has a triangular, or shovel-like shape, rather than the disc-shape formed by fusion with the pectoral fin found in other rays.[3] Notable species include the shovelnose guitarfish, Rhinobatos productus, and the bowmouth guitarfish, Rhina ancylostoma. [edit] Classification The taxonomy of this group is highly uncertain. Some taxonomists put Rhinobatidae in its own order, Rhinobatiformes; others place it in the order Myliobatiformes with the eagle rays and their relatives. In some classifications the family is split into three, with the genus Rhina in the family Rhinidae, and the genus Rhynchobatus in the family Rhynochobatidae (or these two genera may be classified together). These families may be raised to the level of orders: Rhiniformes and Rhynchobatiformes, respectively. This article follows FishBase in including about fifty species in ten genera:[4] - Genus Aptychotrema
- Genus Platyrhina
- Genus Platyrhinoidis
- Genus Rhina
- Genus Rhinobatos
- White-spotted guitarfish, Rhinobatos albomaculatus Norman, 1930
- Annandale's guitarfish, Rhinobatos annandalei Norman, 1926
- Lesser sandshark, Rhinobatos annulatus Müller & Henle, 1841
- Bluntnose guitarfish, Rhinobatos blochii Müller & Henle, 1841
- Blackchin guitarfish, Rhinobatos cemiculus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817
- Taiwan guitarfish, Rhinobatos formosensis Norman, 1926
- Speckled guitarfish, Rhinobatos glaucostigma Jordan & Gilbert, 1883
- Sharpnose guitarfish, Rhinobatos granulatus Cuvier, 1829
- Halavi's guitarfish, Rhinobatos halavi (Forsskål, 1775)
- Slender guitarfish, Rhinobatos holcorhynchus Norman, 1922
- Brazilian guitarfish, Rhinobatos horkelii Müller & Henle, 1841
- Angel fish, Rhinobatos hynnicephalus Richardson, 1846
- Spineback guitarfish, Rhinobatos irvinei Norman, 1931
- Rhinobatos jimbaranensis Last, White & Fahmi, 2006[5]
- Atlantic guitarfish, Rhinobatos lentiginosus Garman, 1880
- Whitesnout guitarfish, Rhinobatos leucorhynchus (Günther, 1867)
- Grayspottted guitarfish, Rhinobatos leucospilus Norman, 1926
- Smoothback guitarfish, Rhinobatos lionotus Norman, 1926
- Smalleyed guitarfish, Rhinobatos microphthalmus Teng, 1959
- Rhinobatos nudidorsalis Last, Compagno & Nakaya, 2004[6]
- Widenose guitarfish, Rhinobatos obtusus Müller & Henle, 1841
- Rhinobatos ocellatus Norman, 1926
- Rhinobatos penggali Last, White & Fahmi, 2006[7]
- Chola guitarfish, Rhinobatos percellens (Walbaum, 1792)
- Madagascar guitarfish, Rhinobatos petiti Chabanaud, 1929
- Pacific guitarfish, Rhinobatos planiceps Garman, 1880
- Gorgona guitarfish, Rhinobatos prahli Acero P. & Franke, 1995
- Shovelnose guitarfish, Rhinobatos productus (Ayres, 1854)
- Spotted guitarfish, Rhinobatos punctifer Compagno & Randall, 1987
- Common guitarfish, Rhinobatos rhinobatos (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Salalah guitarfish, Rhinobatos salalah Randall & Compagno, 1995
- Yellow guitarfish, Rhinobatos schlegelii Müller & Henle, 1841
- Spiny guitarfish, Rhinobatos spinosus Günther, 1870
- Clubnose guitarfish, Rhinobatos thouin (Anonymous, 1798)
- Giant shovelnose ray, Rhinobatos typus Anonymous [Bennett], 1830
- Stripenose guitarfish, Rhinobatos variegatus Nair & Lal Mohan, 1973
- Zanzibar guitarfish, Rhinobatos zanzibarensis Norman, 1926
- Genus Rhynchobatus
- Genus Tarsistes
- Genus Trygonorrhina
- Genus Zanobatus
- Genus Zapteryx
[edit] References - ^ "Rhinobatidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2009 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2009.
- ^ John Farrand Jr., The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of Animal Life, 1982
- ^ Stevens, J. & Last, P.R. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 66. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ "Rhinobatidae". FishBase. Ed. Rainer Froese and Daniel Pauly. August 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
- ^ Last, White & Fahmi 2006 (2006). "Rhinobatos jimbaranensis and R. penggali, two new shovelnose rays (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from eastern Indonesia.". Cybium 30 (3): 262ff..
- ^ Peter R. Last, Leonard J.V. Compagno and 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.
- ^ Last, White & Fahmi 2006 (2006). "Rhinobatos jimbaranensis and R. penggali, two new shovelnose rays (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from eastern Indonesia.". Cybium 30 (3): 262ff..
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