Heliotrygon gomesi

Heliotrygon gomesi, the Gomes's round ray or China ray, is a species of freshwater stingray native to the western Amazon basin in South America, specifically Brazil.[1][2] It is the type species of its genus.[1] It spends the day in deep river channels, but moves closer to the shore at night to feed.[3]

Gomes's round ray
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Chondrichthyes
Subclass:
Elasmobranchii
Order:
Myliobatiformes
Family:
Potamotrygonidae
Genus:
Heliotrygon
Species:
H. gomesi
Binomial name
Heliotrygon gomesi
M. R. de Carvalho & Lovejoy, 2011

Taxonomy

H. gomesi was first discovered in Rio Jamari, Brazil, and described by Marcelo Rodrigues de Carvalho and Nathan R. Lovejoy in 2011. The genus name, Heliotrygon, is derived from the Greek word 'helios', meaning sun, and refers to the ray's circular body that radiates outward.[4] This species is named gomesi in honor of Ulisses L. Gomes and his pioneering research on elasmobranchs.[4]

Gomes' round ray is a member of the family Potamotrygonidae. Potamotrygonids are unique among living ray families in that they have diversified in the South American freshwater environment.[5]

Description

This ray has an extremely circular body and reaches a disc width up to 58 cm (23 in).[3] The eyes of H. gomesi are very small and unprotruding.[4] It is uniform gray to light brown above and it lacks any distinctive patterns. In addition to the lack of pattern, this species differs from H. rosai by showing a slender tail width at its base, a slightly larger preorbital snout length, and a proportionally smaller pelvic inner length. It shows angular cartilages.[1] Both species of Heliotrygon have greatly reduced caudal stings, rendering them virtually harmless.[2]

References
  1. de Carvalho, M.R. and N.R. Lovejoy, 2011. Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of a remarkable new genus and two new species of Neotropical freshwater stingrays from the Amazon basin (Chondrichthyes: Potamotrygonidae). Zootaxa 2776:13-48.
  2. Wheeler, Quentin (9 April 2011). "New to Nature No 37: Heliotrygon stingrays". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  3. Last; White; de Carvalho; Séret; Stehmann; Naylor, eds. (2016). Rays of the World. CSIRO. pp. 620–623. ISBN 9780643109148.
  4. Wheeler, Quentin; Pennak, Sara (2013-04-30). What on Earth?: 100 of Our Planet's Most Amazing New Species. Penguin. ISBN 9780698148321.
  5. Silva, João Paulo C. B. da; Carvalho, Marcelo R. de (2011). "A new species of Neotropical freshwater stingray of the genus Potamotrygon Garman, 1877 from the Río Madrede Díos, Peru (Chondrichthyes: Potamotrygonidae)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 51 (8): 139–154. doi:10.1590/S0031-10492011000800001. ISSN 0031-1049.

Further reading
  • Ballantyne, J. S., and D. I. Fraser. "Euryhaline elasmobranchs." Fish Physiology: Euryhaline Fishes: Fish Physiology 32 (2013): 125–198.
  • Fehlauer‐Ale, Karin H., and D. Timothy J. Littlewood. "Molecular phylogeny of Potamotrygonocotyle (Monogenea, Monocotylidae) challenges the validity of some of its species." Zoologica Scripta 40.6 (2011): 638–658.
  • Orsén, Ludvig. "Potamotrygonidae, broskfiskarnas” outsider”."


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