A new species of freshwater stingray has been described from French Guiana in South America.
The ray, which is a member of the family Potamotrygonidae, has just been named Potamotrygon marinae by Pascal Deynat of the Musum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, in a paper in the French language journal Comptes Rendus Biologies.
The fish were discovered when Deynat took a closer look at some of the Potamotrygon specimens analysed by Garman in 1877. Five of the six specimens studied by Garman turned out to be the new species.
Says Deynat: "This species is differentiated from the others by the feeble development of the prepelvic process, the development of the postorbital process as an enlarged blade, the unsegmented angular cartilage, the dorsal surface colouration composed of a wide circular patches themselves formed by smaller pale patches, the almost dark colouration of the ventral surface tasselated with pale patches, and the small sized spiny tubercles situated in the middorsal region before the caudal sting."
It is not known whether Potamotrygon marinae has yet been imported for sale in the aquarium trade, however, Potamotrygon species with dark undersides are rarely seen.
For more information on the new ray see the paper - Deynat P (2006) - Potamotrygon marinae n. sp., a new species of freshwater stingrays from French Guiana (Myliobatiformes, Potamotrygonidae). Comptes Rendus Biologies. CRASS 3: 2416. 2006 Jul ; 329(7): 483-493.