Banded Guitarfish

At a glance

Banded Guitarfish (Zapteryx exasperata) is an IUCN Data Deficient shark or ray present across the CatchRules coverage area but without species-specific bag, size, or season rules tracked in our regulatory dataset.

Confirmed by 169 research-grade iNaturalist observations, concentrated in California.

Notable details

• It grows to roughly 90 cm long, with a flattened body and a shark-like tail.
• Found on sandy and muddy seafloors from Baja California to Peru.
• Feeds mainly on crustaceans, worms, and small fish buried in the sediment.
• It gives birth to live pups rather than laying eggs.
• Its elongated, flattened body shape gives it the unmistakable outline of a guitar.

Where Banded Guitarfish are seen

• California169 iNat obs

Background

The banded guitarfish, mottled guitarfish, prickly skate, or striped guitarfish (Zapteryx exasperata) is a species of fish in the Rhinobatidae family found from shallow water to a depth of 200 m (660 ft) in the East Pacific from California, United States, to Mazatlan, Mexico, including the Gulf of California. The species has also been recorded further south (as far as Peru), but this likely…

Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Banded Guitarfish article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.

Other sharks & rays on CatchRules

• Atlantic StingrayHypanus sabinus
• Atlantic Sharpnose SharkRhizoprionodon terraenovae