There is some evidence that shovelnose
guitarfish used Elkhorn Slough as a nursery area.
Ribbon-tailed rays cruise the bottom in search of buried shellfish; loggerhead turtles hunt the waters here for fish and crustaceans; while nearby,
guitarfish, a relative of both sharks and rays, survey the sand for molluscs.
The whale sharks, angel sharks and common
guitarfish in the Mediterranean were listed under Appendix I, while the dusky angel and blue sharks, white-spotted wedgefish and common
guitarfish were listed under Appendix II.
They have been documented to feed on rays,
guitarfish, skates, flatfish, small sharks, barred sand bass, kelp bass, blacksmith, ocean whitefish, sargo, sheephead, octopus, spiny lobster, cephalopods and squid (Domeier 2001, Love 2011).
The shortnose
guitarfish Zapteryx brevirostris is a small endemic species, about 550 mm in total length, inhabiting sandy bottoms of coastal waters (2 to 60 m deep), in the western South Atlantic, from Rio de Janeiro to Argentina (Figueiredo, 1981; Carvalho Filho, 1999).
Based on this scarce published literature, the official website "UAE Interact" (http://www.uaeinteract.com) supported by The National Media Council, and unpublished reports from the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD), Emirates Marine Environment Group (EMEG) and local deep sea fishing companies (Ocean Active Ltd.), there should be at least 45 different species of sharks,
guitarfish and rays present in the waters of the Arabian Gulf and off the Eastern Coast of UAE (Table 1).
2 0.1 <0.1 Striped searobin, Prionotus 2 0.1 <0.1 evolans Atlantic manta, Manta birostris 2 0.1 <0.1 Black snapper, Apsilus 2 0.1 <0.1 dentatus Tiger shark, Galeocerdo cuvieri 1 <0.1 <0.1 Stingray, Dasyatidae 1 <0.1 <0.1 Permit, Trachinotus falcatus 1 <0.1 <0.1 Gag, Mycteroperca microlepis 1 <0.1 <0.1 Atlantic
guitarfish, Rhinobatos 1 <0.1 <0.1 lentiginosus Blacktip shark, Carcharhinus 1 <0.1 <0.1 limbatus Cowfish, Lactophrys sp.
Feeding of
guitarfish Rhinobatos percellens (Walbaum, 1972) (Elasmobranchii, Rhinobatidae), the target of artisanal fishery in southern Brazil.
In the open sea, those fished include the Brazilian
guitarfish (raia-viola) Rhinobatos horkelli Muller & Henle, 1841, king weakfish Macrodon ancylodon (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) and some species of sharks (cacoes), shrimps (camaroes), snooks (robalos) Centropomus spp., left-eye flounders, small mullets (paratis) Mugil spp.
We included three additional sequences from GenBank: horn shark (Heterodontus francisci, NC003137) to represent the family Heterodontidae, thorny skate (Raja radiata, AF106038), rabbit fish (Chimaera monstrosa, AJ310140), and the Atlantic
guitarfish (Rhinobatis lentiginosus, AY830717--this study) to serve as outgroups for phylogenetic analyses.
Note on the diet
guitarfish Rhinobatos percellens (Walbaum, 1972) (Elasmobranchii: Rhinobatidae) from the coast of Paraiba, Brazil.
Lowe, California State University, Long Beach, Department of Biological Sciences, Long Beach, CA 90840 60E 4:00 ABUNDANCE, HABITAT USE AND MOVEMENT PATTERNS OF THE SHOVEL NOSE
GUITARFISH (RHINOBATOS PRODUCTUS) IN A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ESTUARY T.J.
guitarfish - primitive tropical bottom-dwelling ray with a guitar-shaped body