Pastinachus sephen

• Overview
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• Bibliography
• More Info
• Notes

Overview

Family : Stingrays; Found in lagoons , reef flats , and reef faces (Ref. 12951). Also in rivers far from the sea (Ref. 5578). Feeds on bony fishes, worms, shrimp, and crabs (Ref. 12951). Ovoviviparous (Ref. 50449). Adults are sometimes accompanied by remoras or members of the trevally family (Ref. 6871). Size at birth about 18 cm WD or larger (Ref. 6871). Flesh utilized as food and skin used for polishing wood (Ref. 4832). Possibly caught by sports anglers (Ref. 5578). Maximum length about 300 cm TL (Ref. 30573).

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Dasyatidae

Distribution: Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Chiefly marine ; also in brackish and freshwater . Side of head continuous with the anterior margin of pectoral fin. Respire by drawing water through a small hole behind the eye and expelling it through gill slits on the underside of the disc. Dorsal fin totally absent or indistinct, when present. Disc about 1.2 times as broad as long. No caudal fin. Tail long and whip-like. Most species with at least 1 long venomous spine on tail, which can cause excruciating pain to humans. Largest species to about 4 m length or width . Live-bearing (ovoviviparous) with fully developed young. (=Trygonidae).The family Dasyatidae belongs to the Class Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays ) and the Order Rajiformes. It contains 9 genera and 70 species. It may be found in Marine, Brackish, and Freshwater environments and is primarily Marine. Members of this family are not used in the aquarium trade. Reproductively, most members of this family are bearers. The main mode of swimming of adult fish in this family is rajiform. Compared with other fish, the activity level of this family tends to be normal. Members of this family have been dated back to the Cretaceous period. This family may be found from 60° n to 50° s and 125° w to 178° e. Etymology of this family name : Greek, dasys = hair

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 880 meters (0 to 2,887 feet).Mean = 142.650 meters (468.012 feet), Standard Deviation = 302.600 based on 17 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre.

Biome: Fresh water , brackish water, saltwater . Reef-associated .

Taxonomy

Ambiguous Synonyms

1. Dasyatis bennetti (M�ller & Henle, 1841)

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Dasyatis gruveli Chabanaud, 1923
2. Dasyatis sephen (Forssk�l, 1775)
3. Dasybatus sephen (Forssk�l, 1775)
4. Hypolophus sephen (Forssk�l, 1775)
5. Pastinachus sephen (Forsskål, 1775)
6. Pastinachus sephen subsp. ater (Macleay, 1883)
7. Raia sancur Hamilton, 1822
8. Raja sancur Hamilton, 1822
9. Raja sephen Forsskål, 1775
10. Raja sephen Forssk�l, 1775
11. Taeniura atra Macleay, 1883
12. Trigon forskalii R�ppell, 1829
13. Trygon sephen (Forssk�l, 1775)

Misapplied Names

1. Dasyatis bennetti (M�ller & Henle, 1841)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

Members of the genus Pastinachus

There are approximately 3 species in this genus:

P. sephen (Animals) · P. sephen ater · P. solocirostris

Bibliography

• Anderson, R.C., J.E. Randall and R.H. Kuiter (1998). New records of fishes from the Maldive Islands, with notes on other species. Ichthyol. Bull. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol. 67(2):20-36.
• Compagno, L.J.V., D.A. Ebert and M.J. Smale (1989). Guide to the sharks and rays of southern Africa. New Holland (Publ.) Ltd., London. 158 p.
• Eschmeyer, William N., ed. 1998. Catalog of Fishes. Special Publication of the Center for Biodiversity Research and Information, no. 1, vol 1-3. California Academy of Sciences. San Francisco, California, USA. 2905. ISBN: 0-940228-47-5.
• Herre, A.W.C.T. (1953). Check list of Philippine fishes. Res. Rep. U.S. Fish Wild. Serv., (20):977 p.
• Iranian Fisheries Company & Iranian Fisheries Research Organization (2000). Persian Gulf and Oman sea fishes. Poster. Iran.
• Kailola, P.J. (1987). The fishes of Papua New Guinea. A revised and annotated checklist. Vol. 1. Myxinidae to Synbranchidae. Research Bulletin No. 41. Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. 194 p.
• Kapoor, D., R. Dayal and A.G. Ponniah (2002). Fish biodiversity of India. National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources Lucknow, India.775 p.
• Kuronuma, K. and Y. Abe (1986). Fishes of the Arabian Gulf. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, State of Kuwait, 356 p.
• Last, P.R. and J.D. Stevens (1994). Sharks and rays of Australia. CSIRO, Australia. 513 p.
• Last, P.R. and L.J.V. Compagno (1999). Dasyatidae: stingrays. p. 1479-1505. In K.E. Carpenter and V.H. Niem (eds.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Vol. 3. Batoid fishes
• Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno and T. Yoshino (1984). The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Vol. 1 (text). Tokai University Press, Tokyo, Japan. 437 p. (text), 370 pls.
• Nguyen Huu Phung and Tran Hoai Lan (1994). Checklist of marine fishes in Viet Nam. Vol. 1. Amphioxi and Chondrichthyes. Science and Technics Publishing House, Viet Nam.
• Quddus, M.M.A. (1998). A survey report on the freshwater elasmobranch from different river systems of Bangladesh. p. 57-62. In Adaptability and conservation of freshwater elasmobranchs. Report of Research Project, Grant-in-Aid for International Scient
• Randall, J.E. (1995). Coastal fishes of Oman. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, Hawaii. 439 p.
• Randall, J.E. (1997). Randall's tank photos. Collection of 10,000 large-format photos (slides) of dead fishes. Unpublished.
• Smith, J.L.B. and M.M. Smith (1963). The fishes of Seychelles. Rhodes University, Grahamstown. 215 p.
• Sommer, C., W. Schneider and J.-M. Poutiers (1996). FAO species identification field guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of Somalia. FAO, Rome. 376 p.
• Suvatti, C. (1981). Fishes of Thailand. Royal Institute of Thailand, Bangkok. 379 p.
• Thollot, P. (1996). Les poissons de mangrove du lagon sud-ouest de Nouvelle-Cal�donie. ORSTOM �ditions, Paris.
• Winterbottom, R. and R.C. Anderson (1997). A revised checklist of the epipelagic and shore fishes of the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean. Ichthyol. Bull. Smith. Inst. (66):1-28.

More Info

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Notes

Contributors

• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-2006. Systema Naturae 2000. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Accessed April 20, 2007.
• FishBase
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 02, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 5 providers.
• MBLWHOI Library: Universal Biological Index and Organizer. uBio.org accessed July 18, 2008.
• McEachran, John (from FishBase).

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 02, 2008:

• FishBase: FishBase DiGIR Provider - Philippine Server
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: AIMS - Baited Remote Underwater Video Station (OBIS Australia)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: CSIRO Marine Data Warehouse (OBIS Australia)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: iziko South African Museum - Shark Collection
• Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History: Vertebrate specimens
• Museum national d'histoire naturelle: Ichtyologie
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: MCZ Fish Collection
• National Chemical Laboratory: IndOBIS, Indian Ocean Node of OBIS
• OZCAM (Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums) Provider: Online Zoological Collections of Australian Museums
• Senckenberg: Collection Pisces

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2498870
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Fis-21801
• Fishbase Species ID: 8203
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13543685
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 564479
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 120220

Footnotes

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