Space Travel News  
WATER WORLD
'Pancake' stingrays found in Amazon

disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only
by Staff Writers
Iquitos, Peru (UPI) Mar 14, 2011
Scientists say they have discovered two new species of freshwater stingrays in the Amazon rain forest and dubbed them "pancake" rays.

Called that because of their almost perfectly round, flat shape, the examples belong to the first new stingray genus found in the Amazon area in more than 20 years, Nathan Lovejoy, a biologist at the University of Toronto, and Marcelo Rodrigues de Carvalho of the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil, said.

The researchers' work in the upper Amazon confirmed the new genus, Heliotrygon, and the two new species, Heliotrygon gomesi and Heliotrygon rosai, LiveScience.com reported Monday.

Besides their pancake-like appearance, both rays are big, have slits on their bellies and sport a tiny spine on their tails.

Most of the specimens came from the Rio Nanay, near Iquitos, Peru. The discovery brings the total number of neotropical stingray genera -- from an area that also includes tropical Mexico, the West Indies and Central America -- to four.

"The most important thing this discovery tells us is that there are quite likely to be other large fishes in the Amazon yet to be discovered and described," Lovejoy said. "Our understanding of the biodiversity of this region is not complete by any stretch of the imagination."

The discovery was reported in the journal Zootaxa.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


WATER WORLD
Weed-Eating Fish Key To Reef Survival
Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Mar 14, 2011
Preserving an intact population of weed-eating fish may be vital to saving the world's coral reefs from being engulfed by weed as human and climate impacts grow. A new study by researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies has found weed-eaters like parrotfish and surgeonfish can only keep coral reefs clear of weed up to a point. After the weeds reach a certain density ... read more







WATER WORLD
Falcon 9 To Launch SES-8 To GTO In 2013

United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches Fourth NRO Mission In Six Months

Indian Space Agency To Now Launch Three Satellites In April

New Dawn Arrives At Spaceport

WATER WORLD
Color View From Orbit Shows Mars Rover Beside Crater

Testing Mars Missions In Morocco

Rover Snaps Close-Up of 'Ruiz Garcia'

Prolific NASA Orbiter Reaches Five-Year Mark

WATER WORLD
Astrobotic's Mission To The Moon Releases Guide For Payload Developers

China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Change-5 In 2017

The Great Moonbuggy Race

Venus And Crescent Moon Pair Up At Dawn

WATER WORLD
Can WISE Find The Hypothetical Tyche In Distant Oort Cloud

Theory: Solar system has another planet

Launch Plus Five Years: A Ways Traveled, A Ways To Go

Mission To Pluto And Beyond Marks 10 Years Since Project Inception

WATER WORLD
Report Identifies Priorities For Planetary Science 2013-2022

Planetary Society Statement On Planetary Science Decadal Survey For 2013-2022

Meteorite Tells Of How Planets Are Born In A Swirl Of Dust

Planet Formation In Action

WATER WORLD
SpaceX Expanding Texas Operations

Andrews Space Awarded USAF Reusable Booster System Study Contract

World's Largest Rocket Production Base Takes Shape In North China

SwRI Signs Up For 8 Reusable Suborbital Launches

WATER WORLD
What Future for Chang'e-2

China setting up new rocket production base

China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket

China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Chang'e-5 In 2017

WATER WORLD
Vesta - An Asteroid In 3D

Dawn Gets Vesta Target Practice

Hawaii Astronomers Keep Tabs On Asteroid Apophis

A New Dawn Coming To Vesta


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement