Common Name
Apron Numbfish
Year Described
Heckel, 1846
Identification
Disk large, thickened, and semicircular to rhombic with kidney-shaped electric organs under each pectoral fin base. Body quite flat along entire width. Snout blunt. Mouth relatively small with well developed labial cartilage. Teeth small (~20 rows) and visible when mouth is closed. Eyes small. Spiracles larger than eye with no papillae. Nostrils very small. Pectoral fins short with concave anterior margins. Tail a little longer than disk with low fleshy ridges. Dorsal fins about equal in size and rounded. Inter-dorsal space about same as length of dorsal base. Pelvic fins moderately broad and long, without projecting anterior lobes. Pelvic fins joined at base. Caudal fin with upper lobe angular and pointed, a rounded posterior margin, and convex lower lobe. Skin entirely smooth.
Color
Dorsum brown to dark purplish brown with no markings. Edges of disk, fins, and body pores bright white. Ventrum whitish with variable blotching.
Size
Maximum size 55cm TL for males (smaller for females).
Habitat
Captured on the continental shelf between 20-140m.
Range
Southern Brazil to Argentina. Also the SE Pacific. Not found around sub-Antarctic oceanic islands.
References
Last, P.R., White, W.T., Carvalho, M.R. de, Séret, B., Stehmann, M.F.W & Naylor, G.J.P (Eds.). 2016. Rays of the World. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Menni, R., G. Rincón, & M. García. 2008. Discopyge castelloi sp. nov. (Torpediniformes, Narcinidae), una nueva especie de raya eléctrica del Mar Argentino. Revista del Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales nueva serie, 10(1), 161-171.
Other Notes
Discopyge species are the only shallow water numbfishes in the southwestern Atlantic. Deepwater Benthobatis kreffti lacks eyes.