Tetronarce is a genus of rays, commonly known as electric rays. They are slow-moving bottom-dwellers capable of generating electricity as a defense and feeding mechanism. Tetronarce species tend to attain a much larger size (up to 180 cm TL) than Torpedo species, which are usually small to moderate sized (range from 25 to 80 cm TL) electric rays.[1]

Tetronarce
Tetronarce nobiliana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Subclass: Elasmobranchii
Order: Torpediniformes
Family: Torpedinidae
Genus: Tetronarce
T. N. Gill, 1862
Species

Nine; see text

Species

edit

There are currently nine recognized species in this genus:[1]

Image Name Common name Distribution
  Tetronarce californica Ayres, 1855 Pacific electric ray northeastern Pacific Ocean from Baja California to British Columbia.
Tetronarce cowleyi Ebert, D. L. Haas & M. R. de Carvalho, 2015 [2] Cowley's torpedo ray around southern Africa, from Walvis Bay, Namibia to Algoa Bay, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  Tetronarce fairchildi F. W. Hutton, 1872 New Zealand torpedo New Zealand
Tetronarce formosa D. L. Haas & Ebert, 2006 Taiwan torpedo Northwest Pacific: Taiwan.
  Tetronarce macneilli Whitley, 1932 Shorttail torpedo southern Australia from Port Hedland to the Swain Reefs
  Tetronarce nobiliana Bonaparte, 1835 Atlantic torpedo Atlantic Ocean, from Nova Scotia to Brazil in the west and from Scotland to West Africa and off southern Africa in the east
Tetronarce puelcha Lahille, 1926 Argentine torpedo Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Tetronarce tokionis S. Tanaka (I), 1908 Trapezoid torpedo Japan and Taiwan.
Tetronarce tremens F. de Buen, 1959 Chilean torpedo Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru.

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Carvalho, M.R. de. (2015): Torpedinidae. In : Heemstra, P.C., Heemstra, E. & Ebert, D.A. (Eds.), Coastal Fishes of the Western Indian Ocean. Vol. 1. South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, Grahamstown, South Africa. In press.
  2. ^ Ebert, D.A., Haas, D.L. & de Carvalho, M.R. (2015): Tetronarce cowleyi, sp. nov., a new species of electric ray from southern Africa (Chondrichthyes: Torpediniformes: Torpedinidae). Zootaxa, 3936 (2): 237–250.