3 70 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Dasybatus {Dasybatiis) guttatus Garman, Mem. Harv. Mus. coinp. ZooL, 36, 1913: 391, pi- 71, figs, i, 2 

 (descr., ill. skel., Brazil to W. Indies). 



Dasybatus guttatus Meek and Hildebrand, Field Mus. Publ. Zool., JJ (i), 1923: 78 (descr., size, Colon); 

 Delsman, Mem. Mus. Hist. nat. Belg., (2) Fasc. 21, 1941: 65 (listed, mouth of Amazon). 



Dasyatis guttatus Jordan, Evermann and Clark, Rep. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1928), 2, 1930: 28 (listed, Surinam 

 [Dutch Guiana] to Brazil, Grenada); Howell-Rivero, Proc. Boston Soc. nat. Hist., 41, 1936: 50 (Ha- 

 vana, Cuba); Fowler, Monogr. Acad. nat. Sci. Philad., 6, 1944: 456 (listed, Panama); Baughman, 

 Copeia, 1946: 42-43 (ref. by Giinther, 1870 to Lake Champlain erroneous); Boeseman, Zool. Meded., 

 JO (2), 1948: 33 (descr., discuss., cf. sabina; Surinam [Dutch Guiana]). 



Probable Synonyms: 



Trygon osteostica Miiller, in Erman's Reise, 1835: 25, pi. 14 (descr., color, ill., Rio de Janeiro); Miiller, Faunus, 

 Z. Zool., Vergl. Anat., herausg. Gistel, N. S. J, 1837: 41 (same as Miiller, 1835; T. osteostica Miiller 

 1835 has commonly been placed in the synonymy of Dasyatis sabina, but it probably referred to D. gut- 

 tata Bloch and Schneider 1801, as pointed out in discussion by Boeseman [Zool. Meded., JO (2), 1948: 

 33-37])- 



Doubtful Synonym: 



Trygon sabina (in part) Miiller and Henle, Plagiost., 1841 : 163 (Brazil and Surinam [Dutch Guiana] specimens 

 perhaps actually guttata'). 



Not Raia tuberculata Bonnaterre, Tabl. Encyc. Meth. IchthyoL, 1788: 3 (a Skate of the genus Raja, prob- 

 ably equals R.fullonica Linnaeus 1758). 



Dasyatis sabina (Lesueur) 1824 

 Figures 88, 89 



Study Material. Forty-four specimens, 130-390 mm broad, in collections of the 

 Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and the U. S. National Museum, from: 

 Caribbean Sea; Gulf of Campeche, Mexico; Galveston, Oso Creek, Corpus Christi Bay, 

 and Matagorda Bay, Texas; Barataria Bay and Bayou Fifi, Louisiana; Mobile, Ala- 

 bama; New Smyrna, Port Orange, St. Augustine, mouth of the St. Johns River, and 

 Amelia Island, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Beaufort and Carteret County, 

 North Carolina; and Willoughby Point, Virginia. 



Distinctive Characters. The only western Atlantic Rays with which D. sabina might 

 possibly be confused are the other representatives of its own family (Dasyatidae). It is 

 separable at a glance from Himantura schmardae, Dasyatis say, D. americana, and from 

 the river Rays of the genus Potamotrygon by its projecting triangular snout. It is dis- 

 tinguished from small specimens of D. centroura by its somewhat more prominent snout 

 and by the more broadly rounded outer corners of its disc.^"* Specimens with their 



108. There could be no danger of confusing the adults of D. sabina with those of D. centroura, so much larger are the 

 latter and so much more prominent is their dermal armature. 



Figure 88. Dasyatis sabina, adult male, 270 mm wide, from Amelia, Florida (Harv. Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 121). 

 A Side view of middle part of tail of same to somewhat larger scale. 5 Tubercles from mid-dorsal row of same, 

 about 1.5 X. C Outlines of snout of another male, 230 mm wide, from St. Augustine, Florida (Harv. Mus. Comp. 

 Zool., No. 125). D Mouth and nostrils of female, 277 mm wide, from New Smyrna Beach, Florida (Harv. 

 Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 36403), about i X . .£ Dorsal view of tail spines of female, 177 mm wide, and F of 

 female, 162 mm wide, both from Galveston, Texas (Harv. Mus. Comp. Zool., No. 36413), about 1.5 X. 



