Heliotrygon

The round rays (Heliotrygon) is a genus of freshwater stingrays in the family Potamotrygonidae. The genus is endemic to the Amazon basin in South America. Despite being discovered decades earlier, the genus was only scientifically described in 2011.[1] They mainly live in deep river channels, but approach the shore at night to feed on fish.[2]

Heliotrygon
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Chondrichthyes
Order:
Myliobatiformes
Family:
Potamotrygonidae
Genus:
Heliotrygon

M. R. de Carvalho & Lovejoy, 2011

Their discs are very circular in shape (including the snout), and they have tiny eyes and a relatively short tail with an essentially harmless, vestigal stinger (sometimes even lacking).[2][3] The largest confirmed disc width is 80 cm (2.6 ft),[4] but there are reports of individuals where it was 1 m (3.3 ft).[2] Both species are greyish or brownish above, but while H. gomesi is overall plain without distinct markings, H. rosai has a white to creamy-white vermiculated pattern.[1]

Species

References
  1. de Carvalho, M.R. and N.R. Lovejoy (2011). Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of a remarkable new genus and two new species of Neotropical freshwater stingrays from the Amazon basin (Chondrichthyes: Potamotrygonidae). Zootaxa 2776: 13-48.
  2. Wheeler, Quentin (10 April 2011). "New to Nature No 37: Heliotrygon stingrays". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. Last; White; de Carvalho; Séret; Stehmann; Naylor, eds. (2016). Rays of the World. CSIRO. pp. 620–623. ISBN 9780643109148.
  4. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2017). Species of Heliotrygon in FishBase. October 2017 version.


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