Benthobatis Alcock, 1898

Ebert, David A., White, William T., Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Last, Peter R., Nakaya, Kazuhiro, Séret, Bernard, Straube, Nicolas, Naylor, Gavin J. P. & De Carvalho, Marcelo R., 2013, An annotated checklist of the chondrichthyans of Taiwan, Zootaxa 3752 (1), pp. 279-386 : 342-343

Genus Benthobatis Alcock, 1898

Blindrays/ ḏėdzḍé

Benthobatis Alcock, 1898: 144 . Type species: Benthobatis moresbyi Alcock, 1898 , by monotypy.

Benthobatis yangi Carvalho, Compagno & Ebert, 2003

Narrow blindray / Ökḏėdzḍ

Benthobatis yangi Carvalho, Compagno & Ebert, 2003: 928 . Holotype: SIO 70-274 ,adult male 215 mm TL, off Tungkang , 22°28.0'N, 120°26.0'E, southwestern Taiwan, 30 June 1970.

Local Synonymy: Benthobatis moresbyi: Chen & Chung, 1971: 5-6 , fig. 3; Shen, 1984a: 5, pl. 5; Shen, 1984b: 40; Chen & Joung, 1993:79, 621, pl. 11, fig. 3. Benthobatis sp. 2 : Carvalho, 1999a: 252, figs. 4C, 5 and 10. Benthobatis sp. : Carvalho et al., 2000: 1438; Compagno, 2000: 581.

Taiwan voucher material: ASIZP 53981 , 2 females, 195 and 345 mm TL; ASIZP , 57800, 371 mm TL, female; ASIZP 63155, 330 mm TL, female (all ASIZP material from Da-xi); NMMBP 2083 ; NMMBP 2767, 343 mm TL, female, Tungkang ; NMMBP 4991 ; NMMBP 11612 (15 spec.) , 12 females and 3 males, largest female 301 mm TL, largest male 196 mm TL; NMMBP 16513 ; NMMBP 16552 .

Remarks: An unmistakable, easily identified species, being the only electric ray from Taiwan that is blind, without externally noticeable eyes. Previously recognized as Benthobatis moresbyi by Taiwanese ichthyologists.

Conservation status: Vulnerable.