Pastinachus sephen   (Forsskal,  1775) (Fish)
Organism information awaits expert curation
Taxonomy
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class: Elasmobranchii
Order:Rajiformes
Family:Dasyatidae
Description
Size: 20- 183 cm; disc length 1.3 to 1.5 in its width.

Colour: Back leaden grey; ventral surface white

Disc somewhat quadrangular; dental surface of upper jaw angular; back granular with three central flattened tubercles in a row; tail fairly thick and less than twice disc length; tail depressed with broad cutaneous fold ventrally beginning before a level from insertion of caudal spine and ending below posterior third of tail; serrated caudal spine inserted above the second quarter of tail.

Synonym (s)
• Dasyatis gruveli (Chabanaud, 1923)
• Dasyatis sephen (Forsskal, 1775)
• Dasybatus gruveli Chabanaud, 1923
• Dasybatus sephen (Forsskal, 1775)
• Hypolophus sephen (Forsskal, 1775)
• Pastinachus gruveli (Chabanaud, 1923)
• Pastinachus sephen ater (Macleay, 1883)
• Raia sancur Hamilton, 1822
• Raja sancur Hamilton, 1822
• Raja sephen Forsskal, 1775
• Taeniura atra Macleay, 1883
• Trigon forskalii Ruppell, 1829
• Trygon sephen (Forsskal, 1775)
Common Name (s)
• Drab Stingray
• Feather Tail Stingray (English)
• Cow Tail Ray (English)
• Goval - Pakat (Marathi)
• Padaiyan - Therandee (Malayalam)
• Adavalan - Teriki (Tamil)
• Adal - Thirikki (Tamil)
• Velugiri - Tenkee (Telugu)
• Wolga - Tenkee (Telugu)
• Madi
• Olavalen - Thirandi
Economic Importance and Threats
Importance:  Commercial, Dangers
("Shagreen" is prepared from the skin; flesh is consumed in fresh and dried salted form; hard and tough skin is used for leather and polishing wood.
Venomous)
Ecology
Habitat:  Reef Associated, Demersal
Prey:  Fish: Coilia dussumieri, Sciaenids, Trypauchan vagina, Harpadon nehereus, Nemipterus mesoprion and leiognathids. Crustaceans (Solenocera spp., Parapenaeopsis stylifera, P.sculptilis, Metapenaeus affinis, Nematopalaeomon tenuipes, Acetes spp., Exhippolysmata ensirostris, Squilla, Crabs and Thenus sp.), Molluscs( Sepia spp, Octopus, Gastropods and bivalves), polychaetes, prochordates and sea squirts
Biogeography


• North West Coast INDIA
• Southwest Coast INDIA
• Red Sea
• SRI LANKA
• MYANMAR
• INDONESIA
• Tamil Nadu, Dhanushkodi INDIA
• Off South West Coast INDIA (Record: 01/1962-12/1968) (Depth: 10-75 mts)
• Tamil Nadu, Gulf of Mannar INDIA
• East Coast INDIA
Literature Source(s)
  • Raje, SG; Sivakami, S; Mohanraj, G; Manoj Kumar, PP; Raju, A and Joshi, KK (2007) An atlas on the Elasmobranch fishery resources of India CMFRI Special publication CMFRI, Cochin, India. 95 253pp Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/4056/1/Special_Publn_95.pdf
  • Society for the Management of European Biodiversity Data (2009) World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Available at - http://www.marinespecies.org
  • Froese, R and Pauly, D (2000) Fishbase 2000: Concepts, design and data sources ICLARM 344 pp Available at - http://www.fishbase.org
  • Murty, VS (1969) Catalogue of fishes (excluding from the Laccadives) in the reference collections of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute Bulletin of Central Marine Research Institute CMFRI, Cochin 10 1-38 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/571/1/Bulletin_10.pdf
  • Silas, EG (1969) Part-1 Exploratory otter trawling surveys by R.V. Varuna and other vessels operating in association with her from the continental shelf edge and the upper continental slope off the south-west coast of India Exploratory fishing by R.V. Varuna Bulletin Of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute CMFRI, Cochin 12 7-51 Available at - http://eprints.cmfri.org.in/657/2/Bulletin_No_12_1.pdf
  • Varghese, M; Manisseri, MK; Ramamurthy, N; Geetha, PM; Thomas, VJ and Gandhi, A (2011) Coral reef fishes of Gulf of Mannar, S.E of India Fishing Chimes CMFRI 31(1) 38-40 Available at - NIO, Goa
Page last updated on:2011-06-06

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