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Rhinobatos productus

(Guitarfish, Pointed-Nose Guitarfish, Pointed-Nose Guitarfish, Shovel-Nose Shark, Shovel-Nose Shark, Shovelnose Guitarfish, Shovelnose Guitarfish)

Overview

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Family : Guitarfishes ; Found on sand or mud bottoms of bays , seagrass beds , estuaries, and near rocky reefs. Nomadic and gregarious . Found singly or in aggregations (Ref. 12951). Burrows in sand during the day, feeds on crabs, worms, clams and small fishes at night (Ref. 12951). Ovoviviparous, with 6 to 28 pups in a litter (Ref. 48844). Etymology : The genus comes from the Greek word rhine , meaning shark , and the Latin word batis , meaning ray , in reference to its body form being intermediate between that of a shark and a ray. The species name comes Latin, meaning produced , in reference to its pointed snout (Ref. 48844).

Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Czech:

Rejnokovec Kalifornský, Rejnokovec Kalifornsk

Common Names in Danish:

Amerikansk Guitarfisk

Common Names in Dutch:

Schuifsnuitgitaarrog

Common Names in English:

Guitarfish, Pointed-Nose Guitarfish, Shovel-Nose Shark, Shovelnose Guitarfish

Common Names in Finnish:

Amerikankitararausku

Common Names in French:

Poisson-Guitare Spatule

Common Names in Mandarin Chinese:

環吻犁頭鰩, 环吻犁头鳐, 環吻犁頭鰩

Common Names in Polish:

Rocha Aksamitna

Common Names in Spanish:

Guitarra Trompa Pala, Guitarra Viola

Description

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Family Rhinobatidae

Distribution: Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans mostly in tropical coastal waters (rarely entering estuaries and freshwater ). Body form intermediate between that of a shark and a skate. Also called shovelnose sharks . Numerous small, blunt teeth in jaws . Two large dorsal fins; origin of first dorsal behind pelvics ; caudal fin well developed. Denticles arranged in a row on dorsal midline. No spine in tail. They reach moderate to large size and are important commercial species in many coastal nations. Ovoviviparous, young born fully developed. Feed on bottom organisms , including molluscs and crustaceans, but will also take small fishes .The family Rhinobatidae belongs to the Class Elasmobranchii (sharks and rays ) and the Order Rajiformes. It contains 7 genera and 45 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. Members of this family have been dated back to the Jurassic period. Etymology of this family name : Greek, rhinos = nose + Greek, batis , -idos = a ray

Habitat

Typically found in water with a depth of -401 to 0 meters (-1,316 to 0 feet).Mean = 220.670 meters (723.983 feet), Standard Deviation = 304.550 based on 6 observations. Ocean depth information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre.

Biome: Brackish water, saltwater . Demersal .

Ecology: The shovelnose commonly inhabits sandy or muddy shallow waters of bays , sloughs , and estuaries, typically in waters shallower than 12 m , but also to depths of 91.5 m (Feder et al. 1974, Love 1996).

Considerable information on reproductive biology and age-growth has been gathered for this species from both the west coast of Baja California Sur (BCS ) in Mexico (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993, González-García 1998, Downton-Hoffmann 2001, Márquez-Farías unpublished data ) and from US Californian waters (Miller and Lea 1972, Eschmeyer et al. 1983, Timmons and Bray 1997). This species is aplacental viviparous .

Fecundity has been reported as 1 to 10 pups/litter (average five) (Márquez-Farías unpublished data) and 6 to 16 pups/litter (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993). Gestation takes 4 to 5 months (Márquez-Farías unpublished data). The species has a continuous reproductive cycle. Pregnant females may contain uterine capsules and large ripe ova in both ovaries at the same time, but the reproductive cycle is annual with a single litter per year (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993, Márquez-Farías unpublished data).

Feeds on a variety of benthic invertebrates (i.e. , molluscs , crustaceans, worms) and fishes (Ferguson and Cailliet 1990). In Bahía Almejas, its diet consists primarily of crustaceans, including pea crabs, benthic shrimp and swimming crabs and occasional takes small razor clams and fishes (Bizzarro 2005).

Life history parameters
Age at maturity: Female: 7 years (Timmons and Bray 1997); Male: 7 to 8.4 years (Timmons and Bray 1997).
Size at maturity (total length): Female: 99 cm TL (Timmons and Bray 1997), 66 cm TL (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993), 87 cm TL (Dowton-Hoffman, 1996); Male: 91 to 100 cm TL (Timmons and Bray 1997), Longevity: 11 years (Timmons and Bray 1997).
Maximum size (total length): Females: 156 cm TL (Baxter 1966); Males: 114 cm TL (Dowton-Hoffman 1996).
Size at birth): 20 to 24 cm TL in San Quintin Bay, Baja California, Mexico (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993), 15 cm TL in Almejas Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico (Eschmeyer et al. 1983), 17.5 cm TL in Sonora, Mexico (Márquez-Farías unpublished data).
Average reproductive age (years): Unknown.
Gestation time: 4 to 5 months in Sonora, Mexico (Márquez-Farías unpublished data).
Reproductive periodicity: Annual (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993, Márquez-Farías unpublished data).
Average annual fecundity or litter size: 1 to 10 pups/litter (average 5) (Márquez-Farías unpublished data), 6–16 pups/litter (Villavicencio-Garayzar 1993).
Annual rate of population increase: Unknown.
Natural mortality: Unknown. (Ref. 80291)


List of Habitats :9.5Marine Neritic - Subtidal Sandy-Mud 9.7Marine Neritic - Macroalgal/Kelp 9.10Marine Neritic - Estuaries 13.4Marine Coastal/Supratidal - Coastal Brackish/Saline Lagoons/Marine Lakes

Taxonomy

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Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Rhinobatis producta Ayres, 1854
  2. Rhinobatos productus (Ayres, 1854)

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Rhinobatos

There are approximately 53 species in this genus:

R. albomaculatus (White-Spotted Guitarfish) · R. annandalei (Annandale's Guitarfish) · R. annulatus (Guitarfish) · R. blochii (Bluntnose Fiddlefish) · R. bruxelliensis · R. casieri · R. cemiculus (Blackchin Guitarfish) · R. cemiculus rasus · R. cemiculus · R. craddocki · R. dumerilii · R. formosensis (Taiwan Guitarfish) · R. glaucostigma (Speckled Guitarfish) · R. granulatus (Granulated Guitarfish) · R. halavi (Halavi Guitarfish) · R. holcorhynchus (Slender Guitarfish) · R. horkelii (Brazilian Guitarfish) · R. horkelli · R. hynnicephalus (Angel Fish) · R. incertus · R. irvinei (Spineback Guitarfish) · R. jimbaranensis · R. lentiginosus (Atlantic Guitarfish) · R. leucorhynchus (Whitenose Guitarfish) · R. leucospilus (Grayspot Guitarfish) · R. lionotus (Norman's Shovelnose Ray) · R. microphthalmus (Smalleyed Guitarfish) · R. nudidorsalis · R. obtusus (Blunt Shovel Nose Ray) · R. ocellatus (Speckled Guitarfish) · R. penggali · R. percellens (Chola Guitarfish) · R. petiti (Madagascar Guitarfish) · R. planiceps (Flathead Guitarfish) · R. prahli (Gorgona Guitarfish) · R. productus (Guitarfish) · R. punctifer (Spotted Guitarfish) · R. rhinobatos (Common Guitarfish) · R. rhinobatus · R. sainsburyi (Goldeneye Shovelnose Ray) · R. salalah (Salalah Guitarfish) · R. holcorhynchus (Brown Guitarfish) · R. schlegelii (Beaked Guitar Fish) · R. spinosus (Spiny Guitarfish) · R. spp · R. thouin (Clubnose Guitarfish) · R. thouini · R. thouiniana (Shaw's Shovelnose Guitar Fish) · R. thueni · R. thuin · R. typus (Austalian Guitarfish) · R. variegatus (Stripenose Guitarfish) · R. zanzibarensis (Zanzibar Guitarfish)

Bibliography

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More Info

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 01, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

Last Revised: 2008-10-02