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.

Description

Guitarfishes have a body form intermediate between those of sharks and rays. The tail has a typical shark-like form, but in many species the head has a triangular, or guitar-like shape, rather than the disc-shape formed by fusion with the pectoral fin found in other rays.^[2]

Classification

Nelson's 2006 Fishes of the World recognized four genera in this family: Aptychotrema, Rhinobatos, Trygonorrhina, and Zapteryx; other taxa that were once placed in Rhinobatidae, such as Platyrhinoidis and Rhina, have since been moved to their own families. Recently, the genus Glaucostegus has again become recognized as distinct from Rhinobatos. The status of Tarsistes is dubious.

• Genus Aptychotrema Norman, 1926
  • Aptychotrema bougainvillii (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) (Short-snouted shovelnose ray)
  • Aptychotrema rostrata (Shaw, 1794) (Eastern shovelnose ray)
  • Aptychotrema timorensis Last, 2004 (Spotted shovelnose ray)
  • Aptychotrema vincentiana (Haacke, 1885) (Western shovelnose ray)
• Genus Glaucostegus Bonaparte, 1846
  • Glaucostegus granulatus Cuvier, 1829 (Granulated guitarfish)
  • Glaucostegus halavi (Forsskål, 1775) (Halavi ray)
  • Glaucostegus typus Anonymous referred to E. T. Bennett, 1830 (Giant shovelnose ray)
• Genus Rhinobatos H. F. Linck, 1790
  • Rhinobatos albomaculatus Norman, 1930 (White-spotted guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos annandalei Norman, 1926 (Annandale's guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos annulatus J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Lesser sandshark)
  • Rhinobatos blochii J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Bluntnose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos cemiculus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817 (Blackchin guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos formosensis Norman, 1926 (Taiwan guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos glaucostigma D. S. Jordan & Gilbert, 1883 (Speckled guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos holcorhynchus Norman, 1922 (Slender guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos horkelii J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Brazilian guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos hynnicephalus J. Richardson, 1846 (Ringstreaked guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos irvinei Norman, 1931 (Spineback guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos jimbaranensis Last, W. T. White & Fahmi, 2006 (Jimbaran shovelnose ray)^[3]
  • Rhinobatos lentiginosus Garman, 1880 (Atlantic guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos leucorhynchus Günther, 1867 (Whitesnout guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos leucospilus Norman, 1926 (Grayspotted guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos lionotus Norman, 1926 (Smoothback guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos microphthalmus Teng, 1959 (Smalleyed guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos nudidorsalis Last, Compagno & Nakaya, 2004 (Bareback shovelnose ray)^[4]
  • Rhinobatos obtusus J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Widenose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos ocellatus Norman, 1926 (Speckled guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos penggali Last, W. T. White & Fahmi, 2006 (Indonesian shovelnose ray)^[3]
  • Rhinobatos percellens (Walbaum, 1792) (Chola guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos petiti Chabanaud, 1929 (Madagascar guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos planiceps Garman, 1880 (Pacific guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos prahli Acero P & Franke, 1995 (Gorgona guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos productus Ayres, 1854 (Shovelnose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos punctifer Compagno & Randall, 1987 (Spotted guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos rhinobatos (Linnaeus, 1758) (Common guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos sainsburyi Last, 2004 (Goldeneye shovelnose ray)
  • Rhinobatos salalah Randall & Compagno, 1995 (Salalah guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos schlegelii J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Brown guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos spinosus Günther, 1870 (Spiny guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos thouin (Anonymous, referred to Lacépède, 1798) (Clubnose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos thouiniana (Shaw, 1804) (Shaw's shovelnose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos variegatus Nair & Lal Mohan, 1973 (Stripenose guitarfish)
  • Rhinobatos zanzibarensis Norman, 1926 (Zanzibar guitarfish)
• Genus Tarsistes D. S. Jordan, 1919
  • Tarsistes philippii D. S. Jordan, 1919
• Genus Trygonorrhina J. P. Müller & Henle, 1838
  • Trygonorrhina fasciata J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 (Southern fiddler ray)
  • Trygonorrhina melaleuca T. Scott, 1954 (Magpie fiddler ray)
• Genus Zapteryx Jordan & Gilbert, 1880
  • Zapteryx brevirostris (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) (Lesser guitarfish)
  • Zapteryx exasperata (D. S. Jordan & Gilbert, 1880) (Banded guitarfish)
  • Zapteryx xyster D. S. Jordan & Evermann, 1896 (Southern banded guitarfish)

References

Wikispecies has information related to: Rhinobatidae

1. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Rhinobatidae" in FishBase. February 2011 version.
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ ^{a b} Last, White & Fahmi 2006 (2006). "Rhinobatos jimbaranensis and R. penggali, two new shovelnose rays (Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) from eastern Indonesia.". Cybium 30 (3): 262ff..
4. ^ 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.

Further reading

• ARKive - images and movies of the bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma)