Gymnuridae - Butterfly rays

The butterfly rays are the rays forming the genus Gymnura and the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.

The body of butterfly rays is flattened and surrounded by an extremely broad disc formed by the pectoral fins, which merge in front of the head. They have a very short, thread-like, tail.

They are up to 4 m (13 ft) in width.

There are currently 12 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms):

Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela)
Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus, 1758) – Spiny butterfly ray
Gymnura australis (E. P. Ramsay & Ogilby, 1886) – Australian butterfly ray
Gymnura crebripunctata (W. K. H. Peters, 1869) – Longsnout butterfly ray
Gymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) – Japanese butterfly ray
Gymnura lessae (Yokota & Carvalho, 2017) – butterfly ray
Gymnura marmorata (J. G. Cooper, 1864) – California butterfly ray
Gymnura micrura (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) – Smooth butterfly ray
Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & W. W. Thompson, 1911) – Backwater butterfly ray
Gymnura poecilura (G. Shaw, 1804) – Longtail butterfly ray
Gymnura sereti (Yokota & Carvalho, 2017) – butterfly ray
Gymnura tentaculata (J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841) – Tentacled butterfly ray
Gymnura zonura (Bleeker, 1852) – Zonetail butterfly ray