The false shark ray (''Rhynchorhina mauritaniensis'') is a species of
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
in the
Rhinidae family and the
only species in the genus ''Rhynchorhina''.
This rare
ray is only known from shallow coastal Atlantic waters in
Banc d’Arguin,
Mauritania.
[ The largest known reliably measured specimen was long, but individuals about have been seen.][ Overall it resembles the African wedgefish (''Rhynchobatus luebberti'') found in the same region, but it has a blunt rounded snout somewhat like the shark ray or bowmouth guitarfish (''Rhina ancylostoma'') of the Indo-Pacific. The genus name ''Rhynchorhina'' (Rhyncho+rhina) is a reference to this "mix" of features.][
Although long known by the local ]Imraguen people
The Imraguen, or Imeraguen (Berber: Imragen), are an ethnic group or tribe of Mauritania and Western Sahara. They were estimated at around 5,000 individuals in the 1970s. Most members of the group live in fishing villages in the Banc d'Arguin Natio ...
, the first record confirmed by scientists was in 1998 and it only received its species description
A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...
in 2016.[
Very little is known about the behavior of the false shark ray, but a female caught in February had ripe ]ovocyte
An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The female ...
s and shrimp in the stomach, while another had moray eel
Moray eels, or Muraenidae (), are a family of eels whose members are found worldwide. There are approximately 200 species in 15 genera which are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water, and a few are f ...
s in the stomach.[
]
References
false shark ray
Fish of the Atlantic Ocean
Fish of West Africa
false shark ray
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