The southern banded guitarfish (''Zapteryx xyster''), also known as the witch guitarfish, 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 Rhinobatidae family found at reefs and other habitats from shallow water to a depth of in the tropical East Pacific. It ranges from Mazatlan, Mexico, to Colombia, but it likely also occurs off

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

.It is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

. It is closely related to the more northernly distributed banded guitarfish (''Z. exasperata'').

References

southern banded guitarfish Fish of Colombia Fish of Ecuador Western Central American coastal fauna southern banded guitarfish Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Rajiformes-stub