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First records of the ornate eagle ray Aetomylaeus vespertilio from the Inhambane Province, Mozambique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2022

Stephanie K. Venables Open the ORCID record for Stephanie K. Venables [Opens in a new window] ,
Janneman Conradie  and
Andrea D. Marshall
Stephanie K. Venables*
Affiliation:
Marine Megafauna Foundation, 7750 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, Florida 33411, USA
Janneman Conradie
Affiliation:
Marine Megafauna Foundation, 7750 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, Florida 33411, USA
Andrea D. Marshall
Affiliation:
Marine Megafauna Foundation, 7750 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, Florida 33411, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Stephanie K. Venables, E-mail: steph@marinemegafauna.org
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Abstract

We report two separate sightings of the ornate eagle ray Aetomylaeus vespertilio (Bleeker, 1852) in the Bazaruto Seascape of southern Mozambique. In May 2021, a single individual was encountered at a depth of 30 m during an in-water survey in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park. Another solitary individual was documented ~55 km away during an aerial survey in the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary three days later. These represent the first documented sightings of A. vespertilio in the Inhambane Province of Mozambique, confirming the presence of the species in the region and extending the known range northward along the south-east African coastline. Given the rarity of reported sightings, additional records are particularly valuable for these threatened and elusive rays in order to expand current knowledge of their distribution and range.

Keywords

Bazaruto ArchipelagoMyliobatidaerange extensionWestern Indian Ocean
Type
Marine Record
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 101 , Issue 7 , November 2021 , pp. 1085 - 1088
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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