Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing guitarfish. I suppose when you look at one of these animals from above that are shaped somewhat like a guitar, though we weren’t able to find exactly why they have this common name. These fish also look like a shark and a ray mixed together, however, if we take a closer look we’ll notice that guitarfish have gill slits on their undersides. This is a giveaway to whether they’re sharks or rays. Sharks have gill slits on their sides while rays have them on their undersides, therefore, guitarfish are classified as rays. This episode is focusing on a single family of guitarfish, but their classification is unstable and new information may bring about changes. For example, giant guitarfish were once part of the same family but aren’t anymore. Currently, there are about 30 guitarfish species in the family we’re discussing today.

These rays are found in warm tropical and temperate oceans. They mostly stick to marine water, though they’ll move to brackish water estuaries for breeding and giving birth. There’s conflicting information about whether or not guitarfish may spend time in freshwater areas, though they may have some kind of tolerance to freshwater as they do enter those brackish water systems as previously mentioned. Guitarfish are also called shovelnose sharks and shovelnose rays - though you all should know by now which of these common names is more appropriate. They use their noses like a shovel for digging up and holding down food.

Guitarfish are mostly bottom dwellers. They spend most of their time laying along the ocean’s bottom or even partially covered in muddy or sandy substrate. At night, guitarfish come out to hunt bottom dwelling organisms like molluscs, crustaceans, worms, and small fish. In turn, guitarfish are taken by larger predatory fish, sea lions, osprey, herons, and more. They’re caught as bycatch in fishing operations but even though they're not the intended catch they’re often saved for just their fins. While their meat is described as mediocre, their fins are sold and eaten. In some places their populations have been overfished pushing some species into endangered status.

Some guitarfish only reach about 30 inches (76.2cm) in length while others can get up to nearly 10 feet (3m). They have two dorsal, or back, fins, rough skin like a shark, and a powerful tail they use to swim. Of course, guitarfish are generally seen perusing the bottom and not often swimming in mid water. These fish tend to stay in shallow water areas but are known to travel to waters deeper than 330 feet (100m).

Guitarfish babies are born live after a gestation period of up to a year depending on the species. The eggs are retained in the female and develop inside her until they hatch and are then born. Females have up to 16 pups at a time, again depending on the species, and these babies are on their own from birth. On average, guitarfish live to be over ten years old.

For more facts on guitarfish, check out the links in the description. Thank you to the toy collector for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!