Rhynchobatus Explained
Rhynchobatus is a group of rays commonly known as wedgefishes in the family Rhinidae. They are found in the tropical and subtropical Indo-Pacific with a single species (R. luebberti) in the eastern Atlantic. All species in this genus are assessed as Vulnerable or Endangered by IUCN.
The species are superficially similar and have often been confused. The various species can generally be separated by a combination of snout shape, vertebral count and exact colour (distribution of white spots, and presence/absence of a black spot at the base of the pectoral fin). The largest species can reach about 3abbr=onNaNabbr=on and are among the largest species of Rhinopristiformes, but the smallest reach less than one-third of that size.[1]
Species
There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: In the past all the Indo-Pacific species have been confused with R. djiddensis, which as presently defined is restricted to the western Indian Ocean.[2]
- Rhynchobatus australiae Whitley, 1939 (white-spotted wedgefish)
- Rhynchobatus djiddensis (Forsskål, 1775) (giant guitarfish)
- Rhynchobatus cooki Last, Kyne & Compagno, 2016 (roughnose wedgefish)[1]
- Rhynchobatus immaculatus Last, H. C. Ho & R. R. Chen, 2013 (Taiwanese wedgefish)[2]
- Rhynchobatus laevis (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) (smoothnose wedgefish)
- Rhynchobatus luebberti Ehrenbaum, 1915 (African wedgefish)
- Rhynchobatus mononoke Koeda, Itou, Yamada & Motomura, 2020 (Japanese wedgefish)[3]
- Rhynchobatus palpebratus Compagno & Last, 2008 (eyebrow wedgefish)
- Rhynchobatus springeri Compagno & Last, 2010 (broadnose wedgefish)
Notes and References
- Last, Kyne & Compagno (2016). A new species of wedgefish Rhynchobatus cooki (Rhinopristiformes, Rhinidae) from the Indo-West Pacific. Zootaxa 4139(2): 233-247.
- Last, P.R., Ho, H.-C. & Chen, R.-R. (2013): A new species of wedgefish, Rhynchobatus immaculatus (Chondrichthyes, Rhynchobatidae), from Taiwan. Pp. 185-198 in: de Carvalho, M.R., Ebert, D.A., Ho, H.-C. & White, W.T. (eds.) : Systematics and biodiversity of sharks, rays, and chimaeras (Chondrichthyes) of Taiwan. Zootaxa, 3752 (1): 1–386.
- Koeda. Keita. Itou. Masahide. Yamada. Morihiko. Motomura. Hiroyuki. 2020-09-20. Rhynchobatus mononoke, a new species of wedgefish (Rhinopristiformes: Rhinidae) from Japan, with comments on Rhynchobatus laevis (Bloch and Schneider 1801). Ichthyological Research. en. 10.1007/s10228-020-00777-z. 1616-3915. subscription.
