Rhinobatos lentiginosus
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Rajiformes (Skates)
Rhinobatidae (Guitarfishes)
Rhinobatos
Rhinobatos lentiginosus (Atlantic Guitarfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
McEachran & Fechhelm (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Anteriorly flattened and posteriorly stout bodied, with a long, triangular-shaped snout and a moderately developed, slightly upturned caudal fin. Rostral ridges are narrowly separated and converge slightly toward rostral tip. Rostral cartilage is expanded distally, and tip of rostrum is spatulate. Lobelike expansion of anterior margin of nostril is poorly developed; it extends only about one-half length of inner one-half of nostril. Length of nostril is equal to or slightly greater than distance between nostrils and slightly greater than one-half of mouth width. Preorbital length is 4 to 5 times interorbital distance. Preoral length is 2.7 to 3 times mouth width. Posterior margin of spiracle possesses two well-developed folds or ridges. First dorsal fin originates posterior to pelvic fin tip by a distance equal to length of base of first dorsal fin. Distance between dorsal fins is about equal to twice length of first dorsal fin base. Teeth in jaws are small, with rectangular to pentagonal bases and rounded cusps, and are in quincunx arrangement. Upper jaw has 56 to 80 tooth rows. Body is covered with small, close-set dermal denticles. Tip of snout, orbital rim, midline from nuchal region to origin of first dorsal fin, and scapular region possess blunt thorns. Thorns are lacking on rostral ridges.
Color is gray to olive brown or chocolate brown dorsally and pale yellow to white ventrally. Generally, dorsal surface is freckled with many small white spots. However, specimens from the Gulf of Mexico often lack, or are sparsely covered with, white spots.
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Florida and throughout the Gulf of Mexico to Yucatan, Mexico
Habitat Associations
Inshore species found from the shoreline to about 18 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 76 cm TL
Males mature at 48 to 51 cm TL
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Bigelow and Schroeder 1953a
Hoese and Moore 1977
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Comments On Rhinobatos lentiginosus