Witch Guitarfish, Zapteryz xyster

Witch Guitarfish, Zapteryx xyster. Underwater photograph taken in Zihuantanejo Bay, Guerrero, March 2022. Photograph and identification courtesy of Maude Jette, Dive Zihuantanejo, www.Divezihuatanejo.com.

The Witch Guitarfish, Zapteryx xyster, is a member of the Guitarfish or Rhinobatidae Family, that is also known as the Southern Banded Guitarfish and 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 Witch 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 red-brown in color with the dorsal side being mottled with blackish blotches that form cross-bars with two pairs of yellow ocellated spots, one at mid-body and the other at the rear of the pectorals. Their ventral side is a uniform pale white. They have a short snout that is relatively pointed with two ridges running forwards from the inner edges of the eyes with a large spiracle behind each eye. They have a row of thorny projections along the dorsal midline from behind the eyes to the origin of the first dorsal fin. They caudal fin is asymmetrical without a distinct lower lobe; their two dorsal fins are large and of equal size.

The Witch Guitarfish is a demersal species that is found over sandy and muddy bottoms in bays and estuaries and around reefs at depths up to 25 m (80 feet). They reach a maximum of 91 cm (3 feet 0 inches) in length with their discs being longer than they are wide and the males being slightly larger than the females. They are nocturnal predators that 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 ovoviparity via yolk sac with offspring born alive as miniature adults that are 18 cm (7.1 inches) in length. The Witch 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 Witch Guitarfish is a resident of all Mexican waters the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the Sea of Cortez and the west coast of the Baja.

The Witch Guitarfish is most likely confused with the Banded Guitarfish, Zapteryx exasperata (found only north of Mazatlán; no yellow ocellated spots on the back).

From a conservation perspective the Witch Guitarfish is currently considered to be Vulnerable. They are caught as a small level by artisanal and commercial fishermen by hook-and-line and by gill nets and trawls. The Witch Guitarfish is considered to be harmless to humans.