page_title: Butterfly ray
section_title: Species
hierarchical_section_title: Butterfly ray / Species
caption_attribution_description: English: Butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela), 2m under water, 30m from the shore/beach
context_page_description: 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 in width.
  McEachran et al. place the butterfly rays in the subfamily Gymnurinae of the family Dasyatidae, but this article follows FishBase and ITIS in treating them as a family.
context_section_description: There are currently 10 species in this genus (others are considered synonyms):
  Gymnura altavela (Linnaeus, 1758) – Spiny butterfly ray
  Gymnura australis (E. P. Ramsay & Ogilby, 1886) – Australian butterfly ray
  Gymnura crebripunctata (W. K. H. Peters, 1869) – Longsnout butterfly ray
  Gymnura japonica (Temminck & Schlegel, 1850) – Japanese butterfly ray
  Gymnura marmorata (J. G. Cooper, 1864) – California butterfly ray
  Gymnura micrura (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) – Smooth butterfly ray
  Gymnura natalensis (Gilchrist & W. W. Thompson, 1911) – Backwater butterfly ray
  Gymnura poecilura (G. Shaw, 1804) – Longtail butterfly ray
  Gymnura tentaculata J. P. Müller & Henle, 1841 – Tentacled butterfly ray
  Gymnura zonura Bleeker, 1852 – Zonetail butterfly ray
caption: Spiny butterfly ray (Gymnura altavela)
exif: {"Image Make": "CASIO COMPUTER CO.,LTD.", "Image Model": "EX-Z75", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.8.22", "Image DateTime": "2017:11:28 15:24:51", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "276", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, 22, 0, 2, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 16, 128, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "31/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:07:08 14:50:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:07:08 14:50:54", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "33/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2216", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1172", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "750", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0/0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}