Platyrhina hyugaensis

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Platyrhina hyugaensis
Systematics
Subclass : Plate gill (Elasmobranchii)
without rank: Stingray (batoidea)
Order : Electric rays (Torpediniformes)
Family : Thornback guitar rays (Platyrhinidae)
Genre : Platyrhina
Type : Platyrhina hyugaensis
Scientific name
Platyrhina hyugaensis
Iwatsuki , Miyamoto & Nakaya , 2011

Platyrhina hyugaensis is a small species of ray from the family of thorn-back guitar rays (Platyrhinidae). It was only newly described in 2011and is endemic to the southwest of Japan. The known distribution area extends from the coast of the prefecture Mie on Honshū over the coasts of Shikoku and the coast of the prefecture Miyazaki on the island Kyushu up to the Kagoshima bay .

features

Platyrhina hyugaensis reaches a length of 37 to 43 cm. The tail is significantly longer than the body disc. The body disc is heart-shaped. The skin is covered with numerous small placoid scales and thus appears velvety. Larger thorns come in a single row in the center of the back and on the tail. There are also three to six thorns near the eyes and two on each shoulders. On the back, the fish are colored gray-brown. The centers of the back and tail are darker than the sides, the fins are lighter. The belly of the animals is whitish, the edges of the undersides of the pectoral and pelvic fins are dark. The nostrils, which are wide apart and slightly sloping, are narrow. The eyes are close together. The distance between the two dorsal fins is approximately 1.4 to two times the length of the dorsal fin base. The clasps of the males are very long and reach behind the base of the first dorsal fin.

Platyrhina hyugaensis can be distinguished from the very similar species Platyrhina tangi by the lack of light, whitish or yellowish pigmented spots around the thorns in the neck and shoulder area.

Way of life

Platyrhina hyugaensis has a relatively small range and lives near the coast. According to fishermen, the species is caught relatively often at depths of up to 80 meters from March to November. In the summer months you can often see them on sandy ground in very shallow water of about one meter. In the winter months from November to March, catches drop sharply. Platyrhina hyugaensis is likely to avoid the lower sea temperatures in winter and migrate. Otherwise little is known about the behavior and way of life of the animals.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c P.R. Last, WT White, MR Carvalho, B. Séret, M. Stehmann, GJP Naylor: Rays of the World. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne. ISBN 9780643109131 . Page 129.
  2. ↑ Y. Iwatsuki, K. Miyamoto, K. Nakaya and J. Zhang (2011): A review of the genus Platyrhina (Chondrichthys: Platyrhinidae) from the northwestern Pacific, with descriptions of two new species. Zootaxa No. 2738: 26-40. doi : 10.11646 / zootaxa.2738.1.2

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