Banded Guitarfish
Zapteryx exasperata
Guitarfish
guitarfish
About
Guitarfish look like a mix of a shark and a ray, with a flat, triangular head and a shark-like tail. In this app the group includes the Giant Guitarfish, the Shovelnose Guitarfish, and the Blackchin Guitarfish.
How to tell it apart
The triangular, guitar-shaped head sets this group apart from other rays, which usually have a rounded disc-shaped body. A normal, shark-like tail (instead of a thin whip tail) confirms it is a guitarfish.
Appearance
Guitarfish have a long body with a flattened head and trunk shaped like a triangle, small wing-like side fins, and a tail that looks like a shark's rather than a ray's whip-like tail.
Habitat
Guitarfish are bottom-dwellers that bury themselves in mud or sand, usually close to the shore or in estuaries. Some can live in salt, fresh, or brackish water. They are found in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate seas worldwide.
Is it dangerous?
harmless to humans (no venomous sting)
Did you know?
A guitarfish looks like a shark from the tail up but a ray from the head down, splitting the difference between the two body plans.
Log it in Into the Blue
Describe what you saw and we name it, then keep every species you find in your Oceandex.
