| Purple eagle ray | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Chondrichthyes |
| Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
| Order: | Myliobatiformes |
| Family: | Myliobatidae |
| Genus: | Myliobatis |
| Species: | M. hamlyni |
| Binomial name | |
| Myliobatis hamlyni J. D. Ogilby, 1911[2] | |
Thepurple eagle ray (Myliobatis hamlyni) is aspecies of fish in the familyMyliobatidae. It was formerly consideredendemic to Australia but is now known to be more widespread. Its natural habitat is the open seas where it has a patchy distribution, and theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed itsconservation status as being "near-threatened".
The purple eagle ray wasfirst described in 1911 by the AustralianichthyologistJames Douglas Ogilby asMyliobatis hamlyni, being named in honour of his friend, theentomologistRonald Hamlyn-Harris, who was director of theQueensland Museum from 1910 to 1917.[3] This eagle ray was originally thought to beendemic to eastern Australia, with other records from the region being ascribed to the closely relatedJapanese eagle ray (Myliobatis tobijei). However a redescription of both species in 2016, including amolecular analysis, indicated that previous records from Western Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan most likely referred to the purple eagle ray rather than the Japanese eagle ray.[1]
The purple eagle ray is a medium-sized species. The disc is diamond-shaped and thepectoral fins are very large and wing-like, the front edge being straight or slightly convex. The slender,whip-like tail has one or two long stinging spines at its base and has a distinctive fold on itsventral surface. There are seven rows of teeth in each jaw, the central one being the largest. An averaged sized adult has a disc-width of 540 mm (21 in), a length of 200 mm (8 in) and a tail of 250 mm (10 in). The largest males in Indonesia had a disc width of 800 mm (31 in), while the females a disc width of 1,140 mm (45 in). The dorsal surface is a uniform purplish-brown or greenish-brown without dark spotting, and the ventral surface is whitish.[4]
This fish occurs in the tropical andsubtropical west Pacific Ocean; its exact range is unclear but includes Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Okinawa (Japan). It is a deep-water species with a patchy distribution and is rarely brought to the surface withfishing gear. Its habitat is theopen sea, mostly theouter continental shelf and the upper part of thecontinental slope at depths of between 117 and 330 m (400 and 1,100 ft).[1][5]
Fishing is the greatestthreat to the species, but it is only in Australia and Taiwan that it is often seen among the catch; in Indonesia and other areas, fishing pressure on this fish is relatively low. Overall, theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being "near-threatened".[1]
