Australian biologists announced the unexpected capture of an extremely rare ray – the Magpie fiddler ray (Trygonorrhina melaleuca).
The specimen was caught by alert fishers in Port River, the western branch of the largest tidal estuary on the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent, on April 6, 2013.
Believed to be endemic to the Gulf St Vincent and waters around Kangaroo Island, South Australia, T. melaleuca is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Endangered. Until now its very existence has rested on a single specimen caught in 1954.
Dr Paul Rogers, a researcher at the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), said: “this ray, caught by fisher John Marsh from the Adelaide Game Fishers’ Club, is pretty much considered the ‘Holy Grail’ specimen. This is because the species has been described based on one specimen only and up until now, scientists have not been able to study another specimen of the magpie fiddler ray.”
“Photographs of what is likely to have been magpie fiddler rays have previously been taken. However, this live specimen will allow us to collect genetic samples, with analysis by collaborative organizations potentially validating the existence of the magpie fiddler ray. Alternatively it will provide evidence that the magpie fiddler ray may in fact be a color variation of the more common southern fiddler ray.”
Dr Charlie Huveneers, who is also a researcher with SARDI, explained: “it was a very lucky coincidence that the fishers who caught the ray also have a good collaborative relationship with SARDI, sometimes helping researchers to catch and tag fish and sharks. They were aware that the South Australian Museum was keen to find such a specimen, and so were very careful capturing and landing the ray.”
The healthy ray with its startling brown, black and white coloring is similar to the markings on a magpie, is thought to be of mature age, is around 43.3 inches (1.1 m) in length, and may even be pregnant.
“The South Australian Museum has been trying to collect samples from this species for many years and it’s considered to be a very valuable live specimen,” Dr Rogers said. “It could be carrying pups which would be also be highly valuable from a genetic and morphological perspective.”
“We plan to keep the ray at SARDI for as long as it takes to glean as much information as we can before releasing it back into the wild. We aim to help several genetic labs to collect vital information to unravel whether it is a mutant form of the Southern fiddler ray (T. dumerilii) or a distinct species as was first thought when it was first discovered almost 60 years ago.”
Original story at Sci-News.
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