FreshwaterBrackishSaltwater
Giant shovelnose ray
Glaucostegus typus
Glaucostegidae
Facts
Characteristics
- Length
- Up to 270 cm
- Body shape
- Other
Care
- Group
- Missing
- Smallest aquarium
- 412,796 liters
- Diet
- Missing
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Behavior
- Temperament
- Missing
- Swims
- Missing
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Water values
Smallest tank
Range
Native
Lives wild in Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, and 3 more countries.
More about the species
Description
Occurs inshore and offshore, from the intertidal to offshore continental and insular shelves. Young individuals are found inshore on sand flats, around atolls, and in mangrove swamps, estuaries and coastal lagoons. Adults occur inshore, over continental shelf, to ~100 m deep, and also the only rhinobatid reportedly able to live and breed in freshwater. Feeds on shellfish, mainly on crustaceans, prawns and crabs and also small bony fishes. Ovoviviparous. Maturity size at 150-180 cm TL; born at 38-40 cm TL. Probably the major commercial guitarfish in the Western Central Pacific. Caught regularly by demersal tangle net fisheries operating throughout the area. Utilized for its meat, fins (both very high value), skin and cartilage. Reported to attain a maximum length of 4 m.
Other names
Other scientific names
- Rhinobatos armatus
- Rhinobatos batillium
- Rhinobatos batillum
- Rhinobatos typus
- Rhinobatus armatus
- Rhinobatus batillum
In other languages
- Kæmpeguitarfisk
- Austalian guitarfish, Bennet's shovelnose guitarfish, Brown shovelnose ray, Common shovelnose ray, Green shovelnose ray, Shovelnose ray, Shovelnose shark
Articles
All articles
How to set up an Asian aquarium5 min read
Two aquariums from Southeast Asia: calm forest streams and peat swamps with soft, brown water, and fast mountain streams with cool, oxygen-rich water.
How to set up an aquarium from Australia and New Guinea4 min read
The home of rainbowfish: water, substrate, plants and light for rainbowfish, blue-eyes and peacock gudgeons, with a long aquarium and open water in the middle.
How to add new fish4 min read
From the store to the tank: how to get the fish used to your water, why you should add only a few at a time, and what to watch for in the first few days.
Quarantine for new fish3 min read
Why new fish should live in a tank of their own for a few weeks before they move in, what you need, and what to look for.