Malagasy blue-spotted guitarfish

📖 Overview

Occurs in shallow coastal waters to at least 80 m. All juvenile specimeans ranging in size from 17.7 - 60.3 cm TL, the size at birth ca. 18 cm TL and based on unretained specimens, this species grows to more than 100 cm TL .

🔬 Taxonomy

🐟 Physical Description

This species is distinguished by the following set of characters: dorsal surface is smooth, no prominent thorns or tubercles, except for enlarged granular denticles partially around orbital rims and irregularly distributed along midline from nape to somewhat anterior to first dorsal-fin origin; absent between dorsal fins and upper caudal fin; snout semi-translucent with elongated bluish-gray spots giving a 'stripe-nosed' appearance, with numerous small bluish-gray spots covering disc and pectoral, pelvic, dorsal, and caudal fins on a brown background with larger, slightly darker, indistinct brown spots covering the tail and fin bases; outer edges of pelvic-fin margins are white, lateral tail folds striped orange and white; ventral surface white, except for a V-shape pattern of faint to dark speckled black spots on snout tip; nasal lamellae 42-48; upper jaw tooth row count ca. 80-87; post-synarcual centra 179-185; total vertebral segments 195-200; total pectoral skeleton radials 64-68 .Cross section: flattened.

🌀 Behaviour

Behavioural data for Malagasy blue-spotted guitarfish is currently being reviewed.

🦐 Diet

🥚 Reproduction

🌍 Habitat & Distribution

Marine; demersal; depth range 0 - 80 m . Tropical Indian Ocean: Madagascar (probably endemic).

🌿 Ecology

📐 Morphometrics

🌡️ Water Parameters & Tolerance

📊 Population Risk & Fisheries

🐠 Related Species

🔍 Similar Species

👥 Community & Contribute