Author: (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)
Taeniura grabata (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Taeniura grabata (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1817) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: disc almost circular, but slightly broader than long; tail short, less than length of disc, compressed and not whip-like, with a membranous fold below, from level of spine almost to tip of tail. Upper surfaces almost naked except for denticles along midline, from spiracles to origin of tail spine, and three thorns on each side opposite position of 5th gillslits. Colour: grey, brown or olivaceous, with darker blotches or vermiculations; underside yellowish-white. Size: to about 100 cm disc width.
Habitat: etc. See family.
Distribution: African coasts of eastern and central parts of Mediterranean (Tunesia to Egypt). Elsewhere, Red Sea; also, southward from Cape Verde Is. to Senegal and Angola.