Bottlenose Wedgefish
Rays and SkatesRhynchobatus australiae
Up to 3.2 meters
Detail Information
Demersal shark-like rays in tropical waters
A ray that looks like a shark
The bottlenose wedgefish is one of several ray species with a shark-like appearance. It has a flattened head and ventral gill slits typical of rays, but its upright dorsal fins and a thick, streamlined body shape give it a distinctly shark-like profile. When swimming, its silhouette looks almost exactly like a shark!
Sadly, bottlenose wedgefish are threatened by overfishing. Their large fins are highly valued in the shark-fin trade, making them particularly vulnerable to fisheries targeting sharks and other elasmobranchs.
Digging the sandy bottoms
Bottlenose wedgefish are demersal, living on soft substrates and coral reefs at depths up to 60 meters. They inhabit tropical seas and feed on other demersal creatures, such as crustaceans, molluscs, and sometimes fishes.
Bottlenose wedgefish have a flattened head shape and a distinct bottle-shaped snout, which allows them to dig into the sand in search of prey. Unlike many other bottom-dwelling rays, they very rarely bury themselves in the sand, relying more on their coloration to camouflage themselves. They will occasionally ‘nestle’ into the substrate when resting, which may be related to thermoregulation, covering themselves in a light dusting of sand to shade themselves from direct sunlight.
Scientific Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Subclass
- Elasmobranchii
- Order
- Rhinopristiformes
- Family
- Rhinidae (wedgefish)
- Species
- Rhynchobatus australiae