Rhynchobatus cooki Last, Kyne & Compagno, 2016
Clown wedgefish

Family:  Rhinidae (Wedgefishes)
Max. size:  81 cm TL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  pelagic-neritic; marine; depth range - 70 m
Distribution:  Western Pacific: Singapore and Indonesia.
Diagnosis:  This species is the smallest of the wedgefishes (to 81 cm TL), it has also the lowest vertebral count (less than 107 centra). It is distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: a long, hastate snout; very strongly undulate anterior pectoral-fin margin; dorsal mainly dark and distinctively marked with white blotches; spots and streaks, with a dark cruciate marking on the interorbit; a prominent white border around the body margin; snout tip lacks dark blotches; absence of the black pectoral-fin marking; it is similar with the much larger Atlantic species (Rhynchobatus luebberti) with well-developed rostral spines, but these spines are confined to the snout tip (vs. being more numerous and extending in paired rows along the rostral ridges nearly to the eyes) (Ref. 109575).
Biology:  A poorly known benthic species with restricted distribution, probably coastal. Males mature at ca. 71 cm TL, born at ca. 14 cm TL. Embryos with yolk sacs at 20.9-23.6 TL; juvenile male at 39.5 cm TL, adolescent at 64.2 cm TL and adult at size greater than 70.5 cm TL; immature females at 41.5 and 60.9 cm TL (Ref. 114953).
IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered (CR); Date assessed: 29 May 2019 (A2bd) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless
Country info:   
 


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