Butterfly ray

Gymnura Altavela

The butterfly ray ( Gymnuridae ) are a family of rays. They live cosmopolitan in all oceans on the coasts of tropical and warmgemäßigter seas, even in the brackish water of river mouths.

Butterfly Rays have a physical disk that is 1.5 times wider than long. The body top is naked or, sometimes covered with large species, with tubercles. The tail of the Gymnuridae is very short in comparison with other rays. The dorsal fin is missing, a poisonous tail fin spines may be present or absent.

The animals are often very large. Most species reach spans from 1,50 to 2,50 meters, Gymnura Altavela even 4.0 meters. They feed mainly on crustaceans and shellfish.

System

The butterfly rays include 14 species, which are divided into two genera.

• Genus Aetoplatea Valenciennes in Müller & Henle, 1841 Aetoplatea tentaculata Müller & Henle, 1841
• Aetoplatea zonurus Bleeker, 1852

• Gymnura afuerae ( Hildebrand, 1946)
• Gymnura Altavela (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Gymnura australis ( Ramsay & Ogilby, 1886)
• Gymnura bimaculata (Norman, 1925)
• Gymnura crebripunctata (Peters, 1869)
• Gymnura japonica ( Temminck & Schlegel, 1850)
• Gymnura marmorata ( Cooper, 1864)
• Gymnura micrura ( Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
• Gymnura natalensis ( Gilchrist & Thompson, 1911)
• Gymnura poecilura ( Shaw, 1804)
• Gymnura tentaculata ( Müller & Henle, 1841)