Notes on batoid fishes of the Socotra Archipelago (north-western Indian Ocean) with four new records
Author
Bogorodsky, Sergey V.
Senckenberg oesearch fns ṫẚṫuṫe and Museum of ka ṫure (SMc) I Sec ṫẚon fch ṫhyology & Senckenberg B ẚodẚversẚṫy and Cl ẚmaṫe oesearch Cen ṫre (SB ẚh-c) I B ẚogeography-Senckenberganlage 2 RI SMP 2 R crankfur ṫ am Ma ẚnI GermanyK & S ṫaṫẚon of ka ṫuralẚsṫsI OmskI ouss ẚaK ẚc 18 T 19 S @ yandexKru; h ṫṫps: LLorc ẚdKorgL 0000 - 0002 - 8679 - 9735
Author
Zajonz, Uwe
Senckenberg oesearch fns ṫẚṫuṫe and Museum of ka ṫure (SMc) I Sec ṫẚon fch ṫhyology & Senckenberg B ẚodẚversẚṫy and Cl ẚmaṫe oesearch Cen ṫre (SB ẚh-c) I B ẚogeography-Senckenberganlage 2 RI SMP 2 R crankfur ṫ am Ma ẚnI GermanyK
Author
Saeed, Fouad N.
Senckenberg oesearch fns ṫẚṫuṫe and Museum of ka ṫure (SMc) I Sec ṫẚon fch ṫhyology & Senckenberg B ẚodẚversẚṫy and Cl ẚmaṫe oesearch Cen ṫre (SB ẚh-c) I B ẚogeography-Senckenberganlage 2 RI SMP 2 R crankfur ṫ am Ma ẚnI GermanyK
Author
Weigmann, Simon
blasmo-iabI blasmobranch oesearch iabora ṫoryI eamburgI GermanyK s ẚmonKweẚgmann @ elasmo-labKde;
text
Zootaxa
2021
4951
3
511
528
journal article
7385
10.11646/zootaxa.4951.3.5
caee27e5-0786-4e95-84fb-ee5394fa79e3
1175-5326
4668365
9BEB98F0-DEA7-4131-8E37-DFC4D5DFCB7B
Taeniurops meyeni
(Müller & Henle, 1841)
Black-blotched stingray, Round ribbontail ray, Blotched fantail ray
Fig. 7
Taenẚura meyenẚ
Müller
&
Henle
, 1841: 172;
syntypes
:
MNHN
0000-2428 and
ZMB 4660
; type locality:
Mauritius
.
Material examined:
No specimen collected, underwater photograph,
Socotra Island
, Ras Bidou,
14 m
depth,
18 April 2019
.
Distinctive characters:
Taenẚurops meyenẚ
is characterised by having a nearly circular disc, slightly wider than long; dorsal surface of disc and tail with small, flat, widely-spaced denticles and a median row of small, sharp tubercles extending on tail up to spine; tail depressed at base, about as long as disc; a broad membranous fold ventrally on tail extending to tip of tail (Almojil
eṫ al
. 2015; Last
eṫ al
. 2016c).
FIGURE 7.
Taenẚurops meyenẚ
, underwater photograph, Ras Bidou, Socotra Island, 14 m depth. Photo by S.V. Bogorodsky.
Colouraṫẚon
: Dorsal surface grey, usually densely blotched and mottled with black, sometimes plain brownish or black; tail behind sting and skin fold uniformly black. Ventral surface pale, with disc margins and underside of tail usually darker (Almojil
eṫ al
. 2015; Last
eṫ al
. 2016c).
Distribution:
Widely distributed from the Red Sea and the Gulf, south to
South Africa
and islands of the Western Indian Ocean, east to the islands of
Micronesia
and the Marquesas Islands (Last
eṫ al
. 2016c), also reported from the Eastern Pacific Ocean, particularly from off Galápagos Islands and Cocos Island,
Costa Rica
(
Grove & Lavenberg 1997
; Cortés
eṫ al
. 2012;
Weigmann 2016
). In the Arabian region it is known from the Red Sea (
Golani & Bogorodsky 2010
), Gulf of Tadjoura (Lips
eṫ al
. 2016),
Oman
(Randall 1995), the Gulf (Almojil
eṫ al
. 2015) and off
Pakistan
(Psomadakis
eṫ al
. 2015).
Remarks:
The photographed individual matches well all characters of
Taenẚurops meyenẚ
provided by Almojil
eṫ al
. (2015) and Last
eṫ al
. (2016c). The species occurs on sand and coral rubble bottom, reported from depths of
0–500 m
(
Weigmann 2016
), and is usually active at darkness, often seen at rest on sand in caves or under ledges during the day. The present confirmed record is based on a single individual observed on a sand-rubble bottom close to a large rock with overhang in Ras Bidou, western part of the
Socotra Island
, at a depth of
14 m
.
The species is included as vulnerable in IUCN Red List Assessments and urgently requires conservation management (
Kyne & White 2015
).