Fishes of the Western North Atlantic coi 



Generic Synonyms: 



Raja (in part) Walbaum, P. Artedi Genera Pise. Emend. Ichthyol., j, 1792: 535; for R. iirostris Walbaum. 



No locality.'-" 

 Cephalopterus Mitchill, .'\nn. New York Lye, r, 1824: 23, pi. 2, fig. i; for C.vampyrtis Mitchill. Off Dela- 

 ware Bay. 

 Cephaloptera Lesueur, J. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 4, 1824: 115; for C.giorna Lesueur (not Lacep^de, 1802- 



1803). Off Delaware Bay. 

 Ceraloptera Miiller and Henle, S. B. Akad. Wiss. Berl., 1837: 118; Plagiost., 1841: 186, 198; type species, 



C.johnii Miiller and Henle. Jamaica.'^' 

 Brachioptilon Newman, Zoologist, 7, 1849: 2358; type and only included species, B. hamiltoni Newman. Gulf 



of California. 

 Diaboliclhys Holmes, Proc. Elliott Soc. nat. Hist., i", 1856: 45; type and only included species, D.elliotti 



Holmes. Charleston, S. Carolina. 

 Deratoptera Krefft, 111. Sydney News, 5, 1868: 3, 9; type species, D.a/freJi Krefft. New South Wales. Not 



seen.'-* 

 Diabolichthys Marshall, Nomencl. Zool., 1877: 72; emended spelling for DiaboHcthys Holmes 1856. Not seen. 

 Daemomanta Whitley, Rec. Aust. Mus., 18 (6), 1932: 327; type species, Manta alfredi Stead 1906.1^9 New 



South Wales.' 

 Desmomanla Fowler, Mem. Bishop Mus., 11 (6), 1934: 386; in refs., misspelling for Daemomanta Whitley 



1932. 

 Not Cephalopterus Risso, Ichthyol. Nice, 1810: 14; equals Mobit/a Rafinesque 1810; preoccupied, see p. 486, 



footnote 73. 

 Not Cephaloptera Cuvier, Regne Anim., 2, 18 17: 138; equals Mobula Rafinesque 18 10. 



Generic Characters. Mobulidae with mouth extending across front of head, not on 

 its lower surface. Tail with or without a serrate spine. Teeth in lower jaw only. Trans- 

 verse pinnations along distal margin of each branchial plate fused at their tips with 

 those of each adjacent plate, thus forming an exceedingly close-meshed net or gridwork 

 (p. 482, Figs. Ill, 112). Other characters as in Mobula, so far as known. 



Size. This genus includes the largest of modern Rays, which grow to a width 

 of at least 22 feet and to a weight of more than 3,000 pounds. 



Range. Tropical-subtropical belts in both hemispheres; Red Sea and Indian Ocean 

 region from northern parts of Arabian Sea (Karachi) and Bay of Bengal (Puri) south 

 to Natal and South Africa (Table Bay); Malay Peninsula and East Indies; Queensland 

 and New South Wales, Australia; island groups of tropical-subtropical Pacific, north 

 to Hawaii and south to the Marquesas and Mangareva of the Gambler group (Lat. 

 23° 07' S);"" west coast of America from southern California (near San Pedro) to Peru; 



126. References by Walbaum were to the Diabolus marinus of Willughby (Hist. Pise., Append., 1686: 5, pi. 9, fig. 3), 

 no locality; to the Divel Fish of Pennant (Arctic Zool., Suppl., 1787: 104), which seems to have been a Mobula, 

 however, because it referred to Duhamel's (Traite Peches, 4 [9], 1782: 293, pi. 17) Raie cornue, which certainly 

 was; and to the Devil Fish of Catesby (Nat. Hist. Carolina, i, 1731: XXXII), Carolina. 



127. Cephalopterus -vampyrus Mitchill 1824 was designated as the type species by Jordan (Genera Fish., i, 1917: 193), 

 but Cephaloptera giorna Lesueur 1824 was designated by Fowler (Bull. U. S. nat. Mus., 100 [jj], 1941 : 483). How- 

 ever, the only mention of either of them by Miiller and Henle was as synonyms of their Ceratoplera johnii. There- 

 fore it seems preferable to select the latter as the type of their genus Ceratoptera. 



128. Cited from Fowler (Bull. U.S. nat. Mus., 100 [13], 1941: 484). 



129. Whidey (Rec. Aust. Mus., iS, 1932: 328) characterizes all mention of the Australian alfredi prior to 1906 (Stead, 

 Fish. Aust., 1906: 238) as nomina nuda, and hence not to be taken into account. We cannot judge whether this 

 applies to the earliest mention of it as Deratoptera alfredi in 1868 by Krefft (111. Sydney News, 5: 3, 9), which we 

 have not been able to consult. 



130. In January 1905, while looking down from the precipitous peak of Mangareva (Mt. Duff) at an elevation of about 

 1,300 feet, we had the good fortune of watching two giant Rays swimming in the lagoon below us. 



