An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyan fishes inhabiting the northern Gulf of Mexico Part 1: Batoidea
Author
Jones, Christian M.
National Marine Fisheries Service, Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Mississippi Laboratories, 3209 Frederic Street, Pascagoula, Mississippi, U. S. A.
Author
Driggers Iii, William B.
Author
Hannan, Kristin M.
Riverside Technologies Inc., Southeast Fisheries Science Center, Mississippi Laboratories, 3209 Frederic Street, Pascagoula, Mississippi, U. S. A. kristin. hannan @ noaa. gov; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 2687 - 3331
Author
Hoffmayer, Eric R.
Author
Jones, Lisa M.
Author
Raredon, Sandra J.
Smithsonian Institution, Division of Fishes, Museum Support Center, 4210 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland, U. S. A. raredons @ si. edu; https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0002 - 8295 - 6000
text
Zootaxa
2020
2020-06-26
4803
2
281
315
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4803.2.3
1175-5326
3909109
325DB7EF-94F7-4726-BC18-7B074D3CB886
Narcine bancroftii
(Griffith and Smith, 1834)
—lesser electric ray, Caribbean numbfish
Synonyms:
Narcine brasiliensis corallina
Garman, 1881
Narcine brasiliensis punctata
Garman, 1881
Narcine umbrosa
Jordan, 1884
Torpedo bancroftii
Griffith and Smith, 1834
Torpedo pictus
Gronow in Gray, 1854
Distribution.
This species exhibits a strong habitat preference (
Carlson
et al
2017
), being relatively abundant in shallow coastal waters over sand bottoms throughout the northern GOM. Although this species is commonly report- ed to inhabit waters from the shoreline to approximately
20 m
in depth, individuals have been documented during NMFS SEFSC trawl surveys out to approximately
65 m
depth.
First Record in GOM.
An individual captured off Pensacola, Florida by Silas Stearns and David Starr
Jordan
in 1882 appears to be the first record of this species from the northern GOM. Although
Jordan
and Gilbert (1882)
make no mention of this species in their report of the specimens obtained during the trip,
Goode and Bean (1882)
include it in their list of species from the GOM, likely based upon this specimen.
Remarks.
Müller and Henle (1841) considered this species as being a variety of
Narcine brasiliensis
(von Olfers, 1831)
.
Garman (1881)
described two additional varieties of
N. brasiliensis
captured from the Florida Keys and
St. Vincent Island
in the Caribbean.
Narcine bancroftii
was resurrected by
de Carvalho (1999)
and the range of this species is proposed to include the waters of the western North Atlantic Ocean, including the GOM and Caribbean Sea, with
N. brasiliensis
limited to the coast of
Brazil
. This being the case,
N. brasiliensis corallina
and
N. brasiliensis punctata
should be considered as synonyms of
N. bancroftii
, as suggested by Carvahlo (1999), and not
N. brasiliensis
as currently suggested (
Fricke
et al.
, 2019
). Likewise,
Narcine umbrosa
and
Torpedo pictus
are currently considered synonyms of
N. brasiliensis
(
Fricke
et al.
, 2019
)
, described from Key West and the Antilles, respectively. Given the localities from which these two species were described, they too should be considered synonyms of
N. bancroftii
instead (
de Carvalho 1999
).
Conservation Status.
Critically endangered, although this status has come into question and will likely change based on the information presented by
Carlson
et al.
(2017)
.