Mobula kuhlii (Müller & Henle, 1841)

Ray, Dipanjan & Mohapatra, Anil, 2020, Short Communication First record of two Myliobatid Elasmobranchs from West Bengal, northern east coast of India, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 120 (4), pp. 491-494 : 492

Mobula kuhlii (Müller & Henle, 1841)

Shortfin devil ray ( Figure 2 )

Material examined: ZSI/ MARC / F4001 , 1 ex., 682 mm disc width, Digha Mohana, 22.xi.2014, coll. Dipanjan Ray ,

Diagnosis: Disk more or less twice as wide as long. Spiracles very small, sub circular and located below the pectoral fin margin where it meets the body - Tail shorter than disc width, no spine at the base of tail, anterior end of pectoral fin convex and posterior end concave. Nasal valves confluent with flap which extends in front of teeth but free at nostrils. Teeth bands not extending to the angle of the mouth. Colour: Dark brown above and whitish below.

IUCN Status: Data Deficient (DD).

Distribution: From Indian waters the species was reported from Odisha (Barman, et al., 2007), Andhra Pradesh ( Devarapalli, 2017), Tamil Nadu (Barman, et al., 2011), Kerala ( Bijukumar & Raghavan, 2015; Bineesh, et al., 2016), Karnataka (Barman, et al., 2013) and Maharashtra (Barman, et al., 2012) either as Mobula kuhlii or Mobula eregoodootenkee (junior synonym of Mobula kuhlii ). The current report extends its distribution further northward in the Bay of Bengal to the West Bengal coast.

Figures

Figure 2. Mobula kuhlii collected from West Bengal coast.