Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryz exasperata
Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata, Still Born Fetus. Fish provided by an 85 cm (33 inch) female caught in coastal waters off El Tule, Baja California Sur, April 2011. Length: 12.4 cm (4.9 inches). An exception pictorial example of reproduction via yolk-sac viviparous.
Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata, Sill Born Fetus. Fish provided by an 85 cm (33 inches) female caught in coastal waters off El Tule, Baja California Sur, April 2011. Length: 12.8 cm (5.0 inches).
Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata, Juvenile. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, December 2010. Length: 17 cm (6.7 inches).
Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata. Underwater photograph taken in coastal waters off La Jolla, California, August 2016. Photograph courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
The Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata, is a member of the Guitarfish or Rhinobatidae Family, and is known in Mexico as guitarra rayada. There are three global members of the genus Zapteryx, of which two are found in Mexican waters, both in the Pacific Ocean.
The Banded Guitarfish has a slender body and a large triangular head that tapers to a pointed blunt snout and incorporate the fused pectoral fins. They are an overall brown color with irregular blotching and dark crossbars (after which they are named); their color quickly fades to a uniform brown upon collection. Their blind side is off-white and the tips of their pectoral fins are black (a key to identification). Their head is relatively broad with a short blunt snout, a large spiracle behind each eye, and two cartilaginous ridges running forward from the inner edges of their eyes. There is a row of thorns that runs along the mid-back from behind their eyes to the origin of their first dorsal fin. Their caudal fin is asymmetrical and without a distinct lower lobe; they have two large triangular-shaped dorsal fins of equal size.
The Banded Guitarfish is a demersal species that is found over sandy and muddy bottoms in bays and estuaries at depths up to 200 m (655 feet). They reach a maximum of 1.25 m (4 feet 1 inches) in length with their discs being longer than they are wide. As of January 1, 2023, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 6.44 kg (14 lbs 3 oz) with the fish caught from coastal waters off Ensenada, Baja California, April 2021. They consume a wide variety of crustaceans and small fish. They are masters at camouflage and have the ability to rapidly change colors to match their substrate. Reproduction is via yolk sac with offspring born alive in litter sizes of four to twenty-eight. The Banded Guitarfish is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Banded Guitarfish is a resident of all Mexican waters the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from of along the coast of the mainland from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, south to Guatemala.
The Banded Guitarfish is most likely confused with the Witch Guitarfish, Zapteryx xyster (found only south of Mazatlán; 2 pairs of yellow ocellated spots on the back).
From a conservation perspective the Banded Guitarfish is currently considered to be Data Deficient. They are caught primarily as a by-catch of benthic fisheries and deemed to be of poor food quality and normally returned to the sea. A limited number are retained and made into fish meal. The Banded Guitarfish is considered to be harmless to humans.