Sea creature with ‘sandwich-like’ tail and ‘heart-shaped’ scales is new species. See it
While surveying the Arabian Sea off the coast of Pakistan, researchers discovered an approximately 9-inch sea creature with a “slender,” “sandwich-like” tail. That was in 1963 — since then experts have continued collecting the sea creatures.
Now, after examining nearly 40 specimens, scientists have determined the animal is actually a new species of stingray: Brevitrygon manjajiae, or the sandwich-tail whipray, according to a study published Dec. 12 in the journal Diversity.
Brevitrygon are a type of “small” stingray that inhabit “soft sedimentary habitats of inner continental shelves of the Indo-West Pacific from the Red Sea to Indonesia,” researchers said in the study. The creatures are among the “most frequently misidentified of all stingrays.”
Scientists collected specimens of the new species from various locations in Pakistan, India, Kuwait and Iran. Males and females of different ages were collected between 1955 and 2014, they said.
The “brownish” creature was named in honor of Mabel Manjaji-Matsumoto, the first researcher to identify and name the rays’ “sandwich-tail,” experts said. The fish have “dark brown” on the top and bottom sides of its tail with “white sides.”
Photos show preserved brownish white specimens.
The rays’ tails are “very slender” and “flexible,” tapering so much that they become “filamentous,” or thread-like, according to researchers. Ahead of their stingers, which are situated on the tail, the creatures have a “well-developed denticle band.” The denticle band — which is composed of tooth-like protrusions or scales known as denticles — includes three to eight “enlarged seed” to “weakly” pointed denticles or “small thorns.”
Males have longer tails than females, experts said, but the species generally has a “relatively short” tail.
Researchers said the species also has one to five “small, seed- or heart-shaped” denticles on its shoulder. Their denticles develop “relatively rapid” as they grow.
Specimens ranged in size, according to the study. The fish varied in total length from approximately 8.7 inches to 9.4 inches. Their widths ranged from about 6.9 inches to 9 inches.
Experts determined the species varies depending on where it is from, they said. Populations from the Persian or Arabian Gulf “are likely to be distinct from those to the east,” and specimens living in the northern Gulf “appear to be different from those in the Arabian Sea.”
This story was originally published December 18, 2023 at 1:23 PM with the headline "Sea creature with ‘sandwich-like’ tail and ‘heart-shaped’ scales is new species. See it."
