Family Glaucostegidae - Giant guitarfishes
  Order
:
  Class
:
Elasmobranchii
No. in FishBase
:
Genera : 1 | Species : 3 Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes
  Environment
:
Fresh : Yes | Brackish : Yes | Marine : Yes
  Division
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  Aquarium
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  First Fossil Record
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  Remark
:
Indo-Pacific and Eastern Atlantic, including Mediterranean Sea; tropical and subtropical inshore continental and insular seas; intertidal habitats and some species are recorded from fresh and brackish waters; Bottom-dwellers, often resting on soft mud or sandy bottoms; strong swimmers.

Species of this family are characterized by a flattened, spade-like to wedge-shaped disc and a robust, depressed hark-liketrunk; snout typically long and its tips varies from being acute or bluntly rounded, to protruding forward as a large, bulbous lobe; eyes typically small and widely separated, spiracles small with 1-2 variably developed folds; nostrils long and almost transverseto oblique with many lamellae (up to 94); no nasal curtain, anterior nasal flaps are relatively narrow and joined posteriorly to the inner edge of the nostril; mouth profile straight;;skin with fine denticles, with small thorns variably confied to a row along mid-line of body and small patches near eyes, on shoulder and sometimes on snout (often better developed in young than adults; long-based pelvic fins positioned laterally, posterior to the disc; 2 similarly-shaped, upright dorsal fins are well separated, the first positioned well behind the tips of the pelvic fins; small, posteriorly directed caudal fin without ventral lobe typical of wedgefishes (Rhinidae); colour plain browish or greyish dorsally with anterior cranium and rostral cartilage sharply demarcated from a much paler translucent snout; none of the species has spots, stripes nor blotches; underside usually white but the ventral snout appears weakly translucent nad it tip can hav ea black blotch.

Feed mainly on benthic invertebrates, including small benthic fishes. Ovoviviparous. Maximum size: most exceed 2 m TL and some reaching 3 m TL or more.

  Etymology
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  Reproductive guild
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  Typical activity level
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  Main Ref
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  Coordinator
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  Deep Fin Classification
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Show species images | Show valid names | Nominal species list | Identification keys | CAS specimen photos | References

 
Ref.
[ e.g. 9948]
Glossary
[ e.g. cephalopods]


Species/Synonymy list for the family Glaucostegidae as currently in FishBase

Important recommendation:

The list below must not be used as an authority reference synonymy list like those found in scientific published revisions, which must be the source to be used and cited eventually when they exist.

Rather, it reflects the current content of FishBase, and the progress with respect to synchronization with the Catalog of Fishes. However, we think it can be useful for users to assess the quality of information in FishBase, to start new work on the family, or to cross-check with other lists.

But we appreciate to be cited in publications when this list has been of any working value. In particular, for published scientific, we suggest then to cite it in the Material and Method section as a useful tool to conduct the research, but again, not as a taxonomic or nomenclatural authority reference.

Unless it is explicitly precised, the list is not complete, please search all original names published for the family in the Catalog of Fishes (genera, species), including those with uncertain or unknown status, that are not included in FishBase when they are not attached to a valid species.

This list uses some data from Catalog of Fishes (not shown but used to sort names).

In the column CofF, the digit indicates the status of synchronization with CofF: 0: Not checked; 1: Same status;   2: Different status;   3: Other combination;   4: Synonym in CofF;   5: Species/Subspecies issue;   6: Synonym of another species in CofF;   7: Not in CofF;   8: Should not be in CofF. The CofF version currently used is the one published on 23-07-2014 (Ref. 97102).

The list ordered as follows:

Please send comments and corrections if you detect errors or missing names.

Show all | Show only accepted name | Show only accepted and original names
Scientifc name Status Senior/Junior synonym Combination CofF
Rhinobatinae
Glaucostegus thouin (Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798)
acceptedseniornew
Raja thouin Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798
synonymseniororiginal1
Rhinobatos thouin (Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798)
synonymseniornew
! Rhinobatos thouini (Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798)
synonymseniornew
! Rhinobatus thouini (Anonymous [Lacepède], 1798)
synonymseniornew
Glaucostegus cemiculus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)
acceptedseniornew
! Rhinobatus cemiculus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817
synonymseniororiginal1
Rhinobatos cemiculus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817
synonymseniororiginal
! Rhinobathos cemiculus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817
synonymseniororiginal
! Rhinobatus rasus Garman, 1908
synonymjuniororiginal2
synonymjuniorchange in rank
Rhinobatos rasus Garman, 1908
synonymjuniororiginal
! Rhinobatus congolensis Giltay, 1928
synonymjuniororiginal2
synonymjuniororiginal
Rhinobatos halavi (non Forsskål, 1775)
misappliedmisappliednew
Rhinobatos granulatus (non Cuvier, 1829)
misappliedmisappliedoriginal
Rhinobatos columnae (non Bonaparte, 1836)
misappliedmisappliedmisapplied
Glaucostegus obtusus (Müller & Henle, 1841)
acceptedseniornew
! Rhinobatus obtusus Müller & Henle, 1841
synonymseniororiginal2
Rhinobatos obtusus Müller & Henle, 1841
synonymseniororiginal
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