Studies in Australian fishes. No. 6. With a description of a new Girellops from Kermadec Islands
Abstract
Family Dasyatidae Genus Taeniura, Miller & Henle. Taeniura Lymma, Forskal. Taeniura lymmai, Garman, Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool., xxxvi., 1913, p. 399 -vide references and synonymy. Id.,Ogilby, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, x., 1885, p. 465, and Mem. Qld. Mus., i., 1912, p. 31, and v., 1916, p. 87. Pectoral disc subcircular, longer than broad, its width 1.2 in its length; the snout and lateral margins are broadly rounded, but the posterior pectoral angles are pointed. Preocular length equal to the width between the angular projections on the upper margins of the spiracles. Eyes large, their bulge subequal in size to the spiracles, and to half, the intelspiracle width. Skin smooth; a series of flattened spines on the median line of the back extending backward almost to the level of the posterior insertion of the pectorals; these form an irregular double row before the shoulders, and there are one or two spines on each side of the median series on the shoulders themselves. Width of the mouth 1.4 in its distance from the end of the snout. Jaws undulous; teeth small and tessellate, with flattened points directed backwards; a series of larger pointed ones on each side of the upper jaw. A fringed velum behind the upper jaw, and two papiIlae behind the lower. Nostrils elongate, each with a broad outer fold and a postero-interior valve; nasoral valve emarginate and fringed posteriorly. Posterior gill-opening well before the middle of the pectoral disc.
