Butterfly Rays
Gymnura
The butterfly rays are the rays forming the genus Gymnura and the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.
The body of butterfly rays is flattened and surrounded by an extremely broad disc formed by the pectoral fins, which merge in front of the head. They have a very short, thread-like, tail. They are up to 4 m (13 ft) in width.
14 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 14 known species
Spiny Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura altavela
Lessa's Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura lessae
Longtail Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura poecilura
California Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura marmorata
Séret's Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura sereti
Mazatlan Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura crebripunctata
Japanese Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura japonica
Diamond ray
speciesGymnura natalensis
Australian Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura australis
Smooth Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura micrura
Zonetail Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura zonurus
Gymnura afuerae
speciesGymnura afuerae
Madeira Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura hirundo
Tentacled Butterfly Ray
speciesGymnura tentaculata
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Gymnura in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 88676.