Mobula mobular (Bonnaterre, 1788)

Jones, Christian M., Driggers Iii, William B., Hannan, Kristin M., Hoffmayer, Eric R., Jones, Lisa M. & Raredon, Sandra J., 2020, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyan fishes inhabiting the northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea, Zootaxa 4803 (2), pp. 281-315 : 303-304

Mobula mobular (Bonnaterre, 1788) —spinetail devilray

Synonyms:

Aodon cornu Lacepède, 1798

Apterurus fabroni Rafinesque, 1810

Cephalopterus massena Risso, 1810

Cephaloptera japanica Müller & Henle, 1841

Cephalopterus edentula Griffini, 1903

Mobula auriculata Rafinesque, 1810

Mobula rancureli Cadenat, 1959

Raia mobular Bonnaterre, 1788

Raja vespertilio Walbaum, 1792

Raia aurita Suckow, 1799

Raia fabroniana Lacepède, 1800

Raja cephaloptera Bloch & Schneider, 1801

Raja giorna Lacepède, 1803

Raja diabolus Shaw, 1804

Squalus edentulus Brünnich, 1768

Distribution. Stevens et al. (2018) list this species as likely occurring throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico in offshore waters. Pelagic longline captures have occurred in waters ranging from nearly 1200 to over 2400 m deep.

First Record in GOM. Verified captures in the pelagic longline fishery date back to 2008, but the first mention of the species occurrence in the northern GOM in the literature was by Stevens et al. (2018).

Remarks. In their recent revision of the mobulid rays, White et al. (2018) considered M. japonica and M. mobular to be conspecific, with precedence given to M. mobular . This effectively extended the range of M. mobular circumglobally in tropical to warm temperate waters. The taxonomic history of this species is long and convoluted but well reviewed by White et al. (2018) and Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. (2020). The common name listed above reflects new insights discussed by Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. (2020). This species is encountered as bycatch in the pelagic longline fishery in the northern GOM ( Figure 14 , C. Jones unpublished data).

Conservation Status. Endangered, when assessed as M. mobular in European waters, Near Threatened when assessed as M. japanica globally. An updated assessment considering taxonomic changes and expansion of known range is required.

Figures

FIGURE 14. Mobula mobular captured by pelagic longline in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Photograph courtesy of NMFS SEFSC.