Pale-edged stingray
| Pale-edged stingray | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Family: | Dasyatidae |
| Genus: | Dasyatis |
| Species: | D. zugei |
| Binomial name | |
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Dasyatis zugei (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Dasyatis cheni Teng, 1962 |
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Dasyatis cheni Teng, 1962
Trygon crozieri Blyth, 1860
Trygon zugei J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841
The pale-edged stingray or sharpnose stingray (Dasyatis zugei) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from India to the western Malay Archipelago and southern Japan. This bottom-dwelling ray is most commonly found over sandy areas shallower than 100 m (330 ft), as well as in estuaries. Measuring up to 29 cm (11 in) across, the pale-edged stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc, a long projecting snout, small eyes, and a whip-like tail with both dorsal and ventral fin folds. It is chocolate brown above and white below.
The diet of the pale-edged stingray consists mainly of small crustaceans and fishes. Reproduction is aplacental viviparous, with females bearing litters of 1–3 young. Caught as bycatch and utilized for its meat, this species is threatened by heavy fishing pressure throughout its range and has been assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
German biologists Johannes Müller and Friedrich Henle originally described the pale-edged stingray from seven syntypes, in their 1841 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. They named it Trygon zugei after zugu-ei, the Japanese name for this species. The genus Trygon was synonymized with Dasyatis by subsequent authors. Several early accounts of D. zugei were confounded by specimens of D. acutirostra; in 1988 Nishida and Nakaya published a study that resolved the differences between these two species and designated a new lectotype for D. zugei.
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