Pygmy Devilray, Mobula eregoodoo (Cantor 1849)


Other Names: Diamond Fish, Eregoodoo, Lesser Devilray, Longhorned Pygmy Devil Ray, Manta Ray, Ox Ray, Oxray, Ox-ray, Pigmy Devil Ray, Pigmy Devilray, Shortfin Devil Ray, Smaller Devil Ray, Smaller Devilray

A Pygmy Devilray, Mobula eregoodoo, filmed by a drone off Norries Head, northern New South Wales, July 2018. Source: Robin Laws-Wall / iNaturalist.org. License: CC By Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:

A small uniformly dark grey to dark greyish-brown devilray with a white underside, and dark margins on the pectoral fins. 

Pygmy Devilrays preying on anchovies at Puri Pinnacle, Misool Eco ResortRaja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia, February 2016.


Pygmy Devilrays hunting huge schools of anchovies all over the no take zone around Misool Eco Resort, Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia, October 2014..




Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2021, Mobula eregoodoo in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/2036

Pygmy Devilray, Mobula eregoodoo (Cantor 1849)

More Info


Distribution

Off Port Hedland, Western Australia, around the tropical north to Sydney, New South Wales. Elsewhere, the species is widespread in coastal waters of the tropical Indo-West Pacific - from East Africa to Papua New Guinea, north to the Philippines, and south to Australia. 

The Pygmy Devilray is pelagic in coastal waters around continents, and has not been recorded from oceanic islands.

Features


Disc broad, short; tail shorter than disc width with no stinging spine; head relatively long, mouth on underside, cephalic lobes prominent with a deeply concave rostral margin.

Biology

Devilrays typically give birth to a single pup per litter with a gestation period of 1–3 years.

Fisheries

This species is taken in both target and bycatch fisheries in many parts of its range. Mobulid rays are targeted for their branchial filter plates for use in traditional Chinese medicines.

Remarks

White et al. (2017) considered Mobula eregoodoo to be a junior synonym of M. kuhlii. In Australia, the Pygmy Devilray has been misidentified as Mobula diabolus, a junior synonym of M. mobular (White et al. 2017).

Species Citation

Dicerobatis eregoodoo Cantor 1849, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 18(2): 1420.  Type locality: Sea of Pinang [Penang, Malaysia] and Coromandel (India).

Author

Bray, D.J. 2021

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Pygmy Devilray, Mobula eregoodoo (Cantor 1849)

References


Bleeker, P. 1859. Enumeratio specierum piscium hucusque in Archipelago indico observatarum, adjectis habitationibus citationibusque, ubi descriptiones earum recentiores reperiuntur, nec non speciebus Musei Bleekeriani Bengalensibus, Japonicis, Capensibus Tasmanicisque. Acta Societatis Scientiarum Indo-Neerlandicae 6: 1-276 (as Cephaloptera eregoodootenkee, an unneeded subsequent new name for Dicerobatis eregoodoo Cantor 1849)

Cantor, T.E. 1849. Catalogue of Malayan fishes. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 18(2): i-xii + 983-1443, Pls. 1-14. See ref at BHL

Compagno, L.J.V. & Last, P.R. 1999. Families Gymnuridae, Myliobatidae, Rhinopteridae, Mobulidae. pp. 1505-1529 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, V.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 3 1397-2068 pp. (as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Daley, R.K., Stevens, J.D., Last, P.R. & Yearsley, G.K. 2002. Field Guide to Australian Sharks & Rays. Hobart : CSIRO Marine Research 84 pp. (as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Grant, E.M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. Brisbane : Queensland Government, Co-ordinator General’s Department 640 pp.(as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Grant, E.M. 2002. Guide to Fishes. Redcliffe : EM Grant Pty Ltd 880 pp.(as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. pp. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3): 307. (as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Larson, H.K., Williams, R.S. & Hammer, M.P. 2013. An annotated checklist of the fishes of the Northern Territory, Australia. Zootaxa 3696(1): 1-293 (as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Last, P.R. & Stevens, J.D. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. Canberra : CSIRO Australia 513 pp. 84 pls. (as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Last, P.R. & Stevens, J.D. 2009. Sharks and Rays of Australia. Collingwood : CSIRO Publishing Australia 2, 550 pp.(as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Notarbartolo-di-Sciara, G. 1987. A revisionary study of the genus Mobula Rafinesque, 1810 (Chondrichthyes: Mobulidae) with the description of a new species. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology 97(1): 1-91.(as Mobula eregoodootenkee)

Notarbartolo di Sciara, G., Adnet, S., Bennett, M., et al. 2020. Taxonomic status, biological notes, and conservation of the longhorned pygmy devil ray Mobula eregoodoo (Cantor, 1849). Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 30: 104–122. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3230

Pierce, S.J. & Bennett, M.B. (SSG Australia & Oceania Regional Workshop, March 2003). 2003. Mobula eregoodootenkee. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2003: e.T41832A10575938. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2003.RLTS.T41832A10575938.en. Downloaded on 09 June 2020.

Russell, P. 1803. Descriptions and figures of two hundred fishes: collected at Vizagapatam on the coast of Coromandel. London, in 2 vols. v. 1-2: i-vii + 78 pp. + 85 pp., 197 pls. (as Raja No. IX of Russell 1803:5, Pl. 9, Ereegoodoo-tenkee - presented ony as the local vernacular name and not a valid description)

White, W.T., Corrigan, S., Yang, L., Henderson, A.C., Bazinet, A.L., Swofford, D.L. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2017. Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 2017 zlx018. Doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx018 (in part as Mobula kuhlii)

White, W.T., Giles, J., Dharmadi & Potter, I.C. 2006. Data on the bycatch fishery and reproductive biology of mobulid rays (Myliobatiformes) in Indonesia. Fisheries Research 82: 65-73.

White, W.T. & Last, P.R. 2016. 33. Devilrays. Family Mobulidae. pp. 741-749 in Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W. & Naylor, G.J.P. (eds). Rays of the World. Clayton South, Victoria : CSIRO Publishing 790 pp..

White, W.T., Last, P.R., Stevens, J.D., Yearsley, G.K., Fahmi & Dharmadi. 2006. Economically Important Sharks and Rays of Indonesia. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia.

Whitley, G.P. 1940. The Fishes of Australia. Part 1. The sharks, rays, devil-fish, and other primitive fishes of Australia and New Zealand. Sydney : Roy. Zool. Soc. N.S.W. 280 pp. 303 figs. (misidentified as Mobula diabolus)

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37041001

Conservation:IUCN Near Threatened

Depth:0-50 m

Habitat:Pelagic - coastal

Max Size:Disc width 130 cm

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Species Maps

CAAB distribution map