Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 45(2): 211-215, doi: 10.3750/AIP2015.45.2.13

First Mediterranean records of spinetail devil ray, Mobula japanica (Elasmobranchii: Rajiformes: Mobulidae)

C. Capapé, S. Rafrafi-Nouira, O. El Kamel-Moutalibi, M. Boumaïza, C. Reynaud

Corresponding author: C. Capapé

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Citation: Capapé C, Rafrafi-Nouira S, El Kamel-Moutalibi O, Boumaïza M, Reynaud C (2015) First Mediterranean records of spinetail devil ray, Mobula japanica (Elasmobranchii: Rajiformes: Mobulidae). Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 45(2): 211-215. https://doi.org/10.3750/AIP2015.45.2.13

Abstract

Captures of 11 spinetail devil rays, Mobula japanica (Müller et Henle, 1841), from the northern coast of Tunisian (central Mediterranean) are reported in the present paper. Of these 11 specimens, five specimens were described. These captures constitute the first records of the species in the Tunisian waters, but also in the Mediterranean Sea, extending its distribution. This unusual occurrence of M. japanica is probably due to a migration from the eastern tropical Atlantic into the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Keywords

Chondrichthyes, migration, Tunisian coast, white-tipped dorsal fin, gill filter plates, morphometric measurements