Abstract
Members of the Dasyatidae (stingrays) range in width from very small (<24 cm, e.g. the dwarf whipray Himantura walga) to very large size (>200 cm, e.g. the smooth stingray Dasyatis brevicaudata) (Last & Compagno, 1999; White & Dharmadi, 2007). The dasyatids are represented worldwide by more than 70 currently recognised extant species which occur in a variety of habitats, e.g. marine, estuarine and freshwater. They are typically demersal on insular and continental shelves, but one species (the pelagic stingray Dasyatis violacea) is pelagic in oceanic waters (Last & Compagno, 1999). In this paper we report the first occurrence of the smalleye stingray Dasyatis microps (Annandale) in the western Indian Ocean and provide information on the fresh colouration of this rare species.
References
Adam, M.S., Merrett, N.R. & Anderson, R.C. (1998) Additions to the fish fauna of the Maldive Islands. Part 1: An annotated checklist of the deep demersal fishes of the Maldive Islands. Ichthyological Bulletin of the J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology 67, 1–19.
Annandale, N. (1908) A new sting ray of the genus Trygon from the Bay of Bengal. Records of the Indian Museum 2, 393–394.
Annandale, N. (1909) Report on the fishes taken by the Bengal fisheries steamer "Golden Crown." Part I, Batoidei. Memoirs of the Indian Museum 2, 1–60.
Compagno, L.J.V., Last, P.R., Stevens, J.D. & Alava, M.N.R. (2005) Checklist of Philippine Chondrichthyes. CSIRO Marine Laboratories Report 243, 103 pp.
Fowler, H.W. (1941) Contributions to the biology of the Philippine archipelago and adjacent regions. The fishes of the groups Elasmocephalii, Holocephali, Isospondyli, and Ostariophysi obtained by the United States Fisheries Steamer "Albatross" in 1907 to 1910, chiefly in the Philippine islands and adjacent seas. Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum 100, 1–879.
Garman, S. (1913) The Plagiostomia (Shark, Skates and Rays). Benthic Press, Los Angeles, California. 511 pp.
Ishihara, H., Taniuchi, T., Tanaka, S. & Srivastava, M.P. (1998) Investigation of the freshwater elasmobranchs in the River Ganges, p. 41–55. In: Adaptability and conservation of freshwater elasmobranchs. Report of Research Project, Grant-in-Aid for International Scientific Research (Field Research) in the financial year of 1996 and 1997. 119 pp.
Last, P.R. & Compagno, L.J.V. (1999) Dasyatidae. In: K.E. Carpenter & V.H. Niem (eds), FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophyrnidae). FAO, Rome, pp. 1479–1505.
Misra, K.S. (1947) A check list of the fishes of India, Burma, and Ceylon. I. Elasmobranchii and Holocephalii. Records of the Indian Museum 45, 1–46.
Misra, K.S. (1952) An aid to the identification of fishes of India, Burma and Ceylon. I. Elasmobranchii and Holocephali. Records of the Indian Museum 49, 89–137.
Mohsin, A.K.M. & Ambak, M.A. (1996) Marine Fishes and Fisheries of Malaysia and Neighbouring Countries. Universiti Pertanian Malaysia Press, 744 pp.
Nair, R.V. & Soundararajan, R. (1976) On the occurrence of the sting ray Dasyatis (Dasyatis) microps (Annandale) on the Madras Coast and in the Gulf of Mannar. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 23, 273–277.
Rosenberger, L.J. (2001) Pectoral fin locomotion in batoid fishes: undulation versus oscillation. Journal of Experimental Biology, 204,379–394.
Schaefer, J.T. and Summers, A.P. (2005) Batoid wing skeletal structure: novel methodologies, mechanical implications, and phylogenetic patterns. Journal of Morphology 264, 298–313.
White, W.T., Last, P.R., Stevens, J.D., Yearsley, G.K., Fahmi and Dharmadi (2006) Economically Important Sharks and Rays of Indonesia. ACIAR Monograph Series, No 124, ACIAR Publishing, Canberra, 329 pp.
White, W.T. & Dharmadi (2007) Species and size compositions and reproductive biology of rays (Chondrichthyes, Batoidea) caught in target and non-target fisheries in eastern Indonesia. Journal of Fish Biology, 70, 1809–1837.