#batoidea

NEW SPECIES ALERT: MEET THE SPADENOSE GUITARFISH

From the Gulf of California, and apparently only found there, this new species of guitarfish, named Spadenose Guitarfish (Pseudobatos buthi) is based on the description of 82 specimens. This new species is dituinguished by having a smaller body than other local guitarfish, an uniform coloration, as well a longer snout, and is found in shallow waters. The spaddlefish went unnoticed until today, probably was misidentified with the peckled guitarfish (Pseudobatos glaucostigmus), a simmilar looking guitarfish inhabiting the same area.

-  Male Spadenose Guitarfish. Photo by Kelsi M. Rutledge.

Researcher Kelsi Rutledge, who described this new species, made an incredible photoshoot with her new species of guitarfish, to share its discovery using Twitter. According to her words, “no fishes were harmed in the making of this photoshoot! This is a preserved museum specimen that I took to the beach. It was not alive”. The same fish it was deposited in  Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

- Kelsi and the spadenose Guitarfish. Photo by Kelsi M. Rutledge

• Photo:Kelsi Rutledge
• Reference:  Rutledge, 2019.  A New Guitarfish of the Genus Pseudobatos(Batoidea: Rhinobatidae) with Key to the Guitarfishes of the Gulf of California. Copeia.

nubbsgalore:

photos by thomas peschak andshawn heinrichs from the world’s largest sanctuary for manta rays in indonesia, a reserve covering more than two million square kilometres of ocean.  

manta rays, who face increased threats from targeted and bycatch fisheries, are gentle and social animals, and with their tendency to feed near the ocean’s surface and interact with humans, it is hoped that rise in tourism will more than offset the financial loses to the fisheries. 

notes shawn, “to spend time in the company of a manta ray is both a humbling and incredibly moving experience. they are massive, powerful creatures, yet are incredibly gentle and curious. if approached correctly, they will interact and dance with you for hours on end.”

unfortunately, those same friendly tendencies make the rays easy targets for fishermen who hunt them for their gills, which fetch 500 dollars a kilo on the chinese market. being slow to both mature and reproduce, it doesn’t take long for manta ray populations to be hunted to depletion.