Order

Myliobatiformes

  Class

Elasmobranchii

No. in FishBase

Genera : 1 | Species : 2 Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes

  Environment

Fresh : No | Brackish : No | Marine : Yes

  Division

  Aquarium

  First Fossil Record

     

  Remark

Distribution: Eastern Atlantic, off Western Africa. Habitat: coastal on continental shelf; from shallow waters inshore to ca. 100 m depth. Morphology: size small to moderate (to ca. 60 cm TL); large pectoral fins forming a heart-shaped or subcircular, flattened disc; short and bluntly angled snout; tail slender, depressed and demarcated from disc; eyes on top to oval,no cusps on their crowns; nostril well-developed, just forward of mouth, connected to it by groove; nasal flaps (anterior nasal valves) are enlarged and cornet-shaped; body covered densely with tiny dermal denticles giving the skin a silky feel; clusters of thorns and thornlets on snout, around orbits, nape and shoulder area, in concentric rows on pectoral fins and in mid-dorsal row on trunk and tail; pectoral fins are developed and exposed in dorsal view (pectoral postrior margin covering pelvic-fin origins); posteior tail with 2 small and equal-sized dorsal fins, each with rounded apex and convex posterior amrgin; origin of first dorsal-finwell behind free rear tip of pelvic fins; elongated and rounded caudal fin without distinct lower lobe. Colour of dorsal surface brownish or greenish with variegated pattern of dark brown transverse bars and/or blotches, sometines with some white or black spots; ventral surface pale, with ot without dark posterior and pelvic-fin margins, sometimes with a few dark blotches scattered on the belly, sometimes darker oronasal an gill areas. Trophic ecology: bottom-dwellers, feeding on small invertebrates including crustaceans, worms and molluscs. Reproduction: ovaviviparous with only the right oviduct functional producing 1-4 pups after gestation period or about 5 months. Uses: caught as bycatch of bottom trawls and gillnets; meat not utilized because they are extremely difficult to skin and discarded by fishermen.

  Etymology

  Reproductive guild

  Typical activity level

  Main Ref.

Last, P.R., W.T. White, M.R. de Carvalho, B. Séret, M.F.W. Stehmann and G.J.P. Naylor 2016

  Coordinator

  Deep Fin Classification