Acroteriobatus blochii (Müller & Henle, 1841 )

Ebert, David A., Wintner, Sabine P. & Kyne, Peter M., 2021, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of South Africa, Zootaxa 4947 (1), pp. 1-127 : 75

Acroteriobatus blochii (Müller & Henle, 1841)

Bluntnose Guitarfish

Rhinobatus (Syrrhina) blochii (M̹ller & Henle, 1841): 115, fig. 1, pl. 37. Syntypes: (originally 14, stuffed) MNHN 0000-1256 (1), MNHN 0000-3460 (1 dry), MNHN 0000-3471 (1), MNHN 0000-3473 (1 dry), MNHN 0000- 3474 (1 dry), MNHN A-7853 (1), MNHN A-7854 (3); ZMB 4547 (1). Type locality: Cape of Good Hope , South Africa .

Local synonymy: Rhinobatus blochii : M̹ller & Henle, 1841: 115, fig. 1, pl. 37; Norman, 1926: 969. Rhinobatus blochi: Thompson, 1914: 154 ; Barnard, 1925: 61. Rhinobatos blochii: Smith, 1949a: 64 , fig. 61 (in part, not fig. 61 = A. leucospilus ), pl. 3; Compagno, 1986: 130, fig. 27.3, pl. 4; Compagno et al., 1989: 76, pl.; Compagno, 1999: 116. Acroteriobatus blochii: NPOA, 2013: 57 ; da Silva et al., 2015: 247; Ebert & van Hees, 2015: 146; Last et al., 2016b: 465; Séret, 2016: 1360; Séret et al., 2016a: 80, fig. 10.2; Weigmann, 2016: 920.

South Africa voucher material: See above for details on syntypes .

South African distribution: West coast from the Orange River (NC) to Langebaan Lagoon (WC). Its distribution eastwards may extend to Cape Point, but if so, it is rare south of Langebaan .

Remarks: Acroteriobatus blochii was once considered to be very rare and known from only a few specimens, but it was frequently misidentified as A. annulatus along the west coast of South Africa and Namibia. A coastal survey conducted along the west coast of South Africa and Namibia (D.A. Ebert & P.D. Cowley, unpubl. data) revealed this to be the most common guitarfish along the west coast, mostly replacing A. annulatus north of Langebaan Lagoon (WC) and extending into at least central Namibia ( Compagno et al., 1989).

Conservation status: LC (2019).