Bentfin Devilray, Mobula thurstoni (Lloyd 1908)


Other Names: Lesser Devil Ray, Smoothtail Devil Ray, Smoothtail Mobula, Thurston's Devil Ray

Bentfin Devilrays, Mobula thurstonion the outer Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, August 2017. Source: mattytestoni / iNaturalist.org. License: CC by Attribution-NonCommercial

Summary:
A bluish-black devilray with an almost white underside with a narrow black margin, a white tip to the dorsal fin, a dark blotch on the underside of the anterior edge of the pectoral fin, and silvery pectoral-fin tips. The front margin of the pectoral fin has a prominent double bend, and the black disc margin on the underside becomes very broad at the concavity.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2021, Mobula thurstoni in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/3499

Bentfin Devilray, Mobula thurstoni (Lloyd 1908)

More Info


Distribution

Off Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, and the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland; also Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean. Elsewhere the Bentfin Devilray is known from scattered locations in the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
Individuals or groups inhabit coastal and oceanic waters. The species occurs seasonally occurs along coastlines with regular upwelling, off oceanic island groups, and near offshore pinnacles and seamounts.

Colour

Bluish-black with purplish tinge above; blackish margin along anterior disc becoming broad and very distinctive at level of concavity; dorsal fin with a distinct white tip (becoming faint in adults); ventral surface mostly white.

Feeding

Feeds mostly on pelagic crustaceans such as euphausid and mysid shrimps.

Biology

Females mature at 150–163 cm DW, and males at 150–158 cm DW. The species is aplacental viviparous - embryos initially obtain nutrients from the yolk, then absorb enriched uterine fluid provided by the mother. Females produce a single large pup (rarely two) born at 65-85 cm DW after a gestation period of about one year. 

Fisheries

Targeted or taken as bycatch in pelagic and demersal gillnets, and purse seines in parts of its range - particularly in South Asia. 
The Bentfin Devilray is used for its meat, skin, cartilage, liver oil, and gill plates. The meat from mobulid rays, including the Bentfin Devilray, is often used locally or traded regionally for human consumption, animal feed, and shark bait.
The cartilage, the skin, which is commonly used for leather products (shoes, wallets, and knife handles), and the gill plates are exported to Asia. The gill plates in particular fetch high prices in Asia and are used for in Chinese traditional medicine.

Etymology

The species is named in honour of Edgar Thurston, superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras, India, who provided Lloyd the opportunity to examine specimens from the museum’s collection.

Species Citation

Dicerobatis thurstoni Lloyd, 1908, Rec. Indian Mus. 2(2): 179, pl. 4(2). Type locality: India.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2021

Resources

Bentfin Devilray, Mobula thurstoni (Lloyd 1908)

References


Acebes, J.M.V. & Tull, M. 2016. The history and characteristics of the mobulid ray fishery in the Bohol Sea, Philippines. Plos ONE 11(8): e0161444.

Bessey, C., Jarman, S.N., Stat, M., et al. 2019. DNA metabarcoding assays reveal a diverse prey assemblage for Mobula rays in the Bohol Sea, Philippines. Ecology and Evolution 9: 2459– 2474. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.4858

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 pp. 1397-2068.

Couturier, L.I.E., Marshall, A.D., Jaine, F.R.A., Kashiwagi, T., Pierce, S.J., Townsend, K.A., Weeks, S.J., Bennet, M.B. & Richardson, A.J. 2012. Biology, ecology and conservation of the Mobulidae. Journal of Fish Biology 80: 1075-1119.


Croll, D., Dewar, H., Dulvy, N.K., Fernando, D., Francis, M.P., Galván‐Magaña, F., Hall, M., Heinrichs, S., Marshall, A., McCauley, D., et. al. 2016. Slow life histories and fisheries impacts: the uncertain future of Manta and Devil Rays. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 26(3): 562-575, https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2591

Dulvy, N.K., Pardo, S.A., Simpfendorfer, C.A. & Carlson, JK. 2014. Diagnosing the dangerous demography of manta rays using life history theory. Peer J 2: e400, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.400

Last, P.R. & Stevens, J.D. 1994. Sharks and Rays of Australia. Canberra : CSIRO Australia 513 pp.

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

Lloyd, R.E. 1908. On two new species of eagle-rays (Myliobatidae), with notes on the skull of the genus Ceratoptera. Records of the Indian Museum 2(2): 175-180.

Marshall, A., Barreto, R., Bigman, J.S., Carlson, J., Fernando, D., Fordham, S., Francis, M.P., Herman, K., Jabado, R.W., Liu, K.M., Pardo, S.A., Rigby, C.L., Romanov, E., Smith, W.D. & Walls, R.H.L. 2019. Mobula thurstoni. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T60200A124451622. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T60200A124451622.en. Downloaded on 18 May 2021.


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 91(1): 1-91.

O'Malley, M.P., Townsend, K.A., Hilton, P., Heinrichs, S. & Stewart, J.D. 2017. Characterization of the trade in manta and devil ray gill plates in China and South-east Asia through trader surveys. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 27(2): 394-413, https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2670


Rambahiniarison, J.M., Lamoste, M.J., Rohner, C.A., Murray, R., Snow, S., Labaja, J., Araujo, G. & Ponzo, A. 2018. Life history, growth, and reproductive biology of four mobulid species in the Bohol Sea, Philippines. Frontiers in Marine Science 5(269): https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00269

Scharpf, C. & Lazara, K.J. 2021. Order MYLIOBATIFORMES (Stingrays), in The ETYFish Project: Fish Name Etymology Database, accessed 19 May 2021,  https://etyfish.org/myliobatiformes/

Stewart, J.D., Jaine, F.R.A., Armstrong, A.J., et.al. 2018. Research priorities to support effective manta and devil ray conservation. Frontiers in Marine Science 5(314): https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00314

White, W.T., Corrigan, S., Yang, L., Henderson, A.C., Bazinet, A.L., Swofford, D.L. & Naylor, G.J.P. 2018. Phylogeny of the manta and devilrays (Chondrichthyes: Mobulidae), with an updated taxonomic arrangement for the family. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 182(1): 50-75, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlx018

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, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fishres.2006.08.008

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.

Whitley, G.P. 1936. The Australian devil ray, Daemomanta alfredi (Krefft), with remarks on the superfamily Mobuloidea (order Batoidei). The Australian Zoologist 8(3): 164-188.

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Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37041003

Conservation:IUCN Endangered

Depth:0-100 m

Habitat:Pelagic

Max Size:180 cm DW

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CAAB distribution map