photo: Jamila Ben-Souissi

SHORT DESCRIPTION Body elongated and flat. Two dorsal fins located behind body midpoint. The distance between the two dorsal fins at least 1.3 times the distance from axil of pelvic fin to first dorsal fin. Anal fin absent. Caudal fin with reduced lower lobe. Pectoral fins wide and fused to head. Pelvic fin originating short distance from pectoral axil. Long pointed snout with two narrowly separated rostral ridges, the distance between them less then eye diameter. Two spircles behind the eyes. Five gill slits on each side on the ventral surface. color : brown to beige on the dorsal surface, off-white to light beige on the ventral surface. Note: the first Mediterranean recorded specimen from Tunisia was almost completely albino. common size : 70-120 cm (max. 170 cm). DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS Rhinobatos rhinobatos – The distance between rostral ridges equals or more than eye diameter. Rhinobatos cemiculus – The distance between the two dorsal fins about equals  the distance from pelvic fin axil to first dorsal fin. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Feeds on demersal invertebrates, mainly shrimps. Viviparous with up to 10 young per litter, their size at birth is close to 30 cm. Females approach shallow waters to give birth. habitat : sandy shallow substrate.

1st MEDITERRANEAN RECORD Tunisia, 2007 [2004]; Egypt, 1951 (not confirmed). DISTRIBUTION Worldwide : Wide Indo-west Pacific from the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman to China. Mediterranean : Tunisia (Ben Souissi et al., 2007). Note: this species was recorded from the Mediterranean coast of Egypt by Tortonese (1951), but no specimen was preserved for confirmation. ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Only a single confirmed record from the Mediterranean. Note: this species may be more common in the Mediterranean but possibly is overlooked due to its external similarity to the indigenous species. MODE OF INTRODUCTION Via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None in the Mediterranean but fished commercially in the regions of its original distribution.

KEY REFERENCES Ben Souissi J., Golani D., Méjri H., Ben Salem M. and Capapé C., 2007. First confirmed record of the Halave's Guitarfis, Rhinobatos halavi (Forsskäl, 1775) (Chondrichthyes: Rhinobatidae) in the Mediterranean Sea with a description of a case of albinisim in elasmobranches. Cahiers de Biologie Marine, 48: 67-75. Compagno L.J.V and Randall J.E., 1987. Rhinobatos puncifer, a new species of guitarfish (Rhinobatiformes: Rhinobatidae) from the Red Sea, with note on the Red Sea batoid fauna. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 44: 335-342. Compagno L.J.V. and Last P., 1999. Rhinobatidae. Guitarfishes. In: Carpenter K.E. and Niem V.H. (eds) FAO identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO, Rome, pp. 1423-1430.     FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

Last update of the species sheet: January 2009 ©ciesm 2002