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Species: Mobula hypostoma, Devil Ray, West Atlantic Pygmy Devil Ray

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

head: horns long, front not concave
wings not strongly curved
tail: < disc, base compressed, no spine
mouth under head
spiracle: small, circular, under pectoral, with groove to over eye
underneath not abruptly bicolored

Mobula hypostoma (Bancroft, 1831)

Devil Ray, West Atlantic Pygmy Devil Ray

Head projecting, relatively narrow; front edge of snout between horns not concave; large triangular "wings" (pectoral fin flaps), with front edge straight to slightly convex; head horns relatively long (width ~1/2 their length) with blunt tips; spiracles small (<1/2 eye), circular, below plane of pectoral fins, with a groove from them to over the eye; mouth on underside of head; teeth on both jaws, upper jaws with 36-72 and lower jaws 38-58 rows; teeth of females and juveniles with rounded tips, those of mature males with 2 (1-3) long tips; upper and lower teeth bands <55% of width of mouth; filter plates in gills are separate at their tips, with acorn-shaped lobes at their ends, side lobes of those plates densely covered with denticles; tail slender, relatively short (< disc width), without spine, its base compressed; skin with fine prickles sparse or close-set in a belt along center of back from head to dorsal fin, plus scattered on pectorals.

Top variable: light brown, grey or black, may be mottled or with spots; top edges and inner tips of head horns black; usually dark stripe along top edge of mouth; may have pale grey collar behind eyes; sides of neck before gill slits brown to grey; dorsal fin with dark edges, center grey; white ventral marks extend up behind and above eye; underside white, pectoral tips grey.

Grows to a disc width of 125 cm, 55 cm at birth.

Habitat: pelagic coastal waters.

Depth: 0-100 m.

Trans-Atlantic; The central US to Argentina.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • In & Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Offshore
Water Column Position
  • Near Surface
  • Surface
  • Water column only
Habitat
  • Water column
FishBase Habitat
  • Pelagic
Feeding Group
  • Data
  • Planktivore
Diet
  • Data
  • Zooplankton
  • Bony fishes
  • Pelagic crustacea
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Live birth
  • No pelagic larva
Global Endemism
  • All species
  • Greater Caribbean non-endemic
  • Transatlantic (East+West Atlantic)
Regional Endemism
  • Also in Brazil
  • Continent
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Extends N + S of GC
  • Extends North of GC
  • Extends South of GC
  • GC non-endemic
  • Island (s)
  • All species
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Temperate (>35N)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
IUCN Red List
  • Endangered
  • Listed
CITES
  • Appendix II
  • Listed
Length Max
  • 125
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 100