|
|
Torpedo panthera
– Data Deficient
Taxonomy
|
Kingdom:
|
ANIMALIA
|
|
Phylum:
|
CHORDATA
|
|
Class:
|
CHONDRICHTHYES
|
|
Order:
|
TORPEDINIFORMES
|
|
Family:
|
TORPEDINIDAE
|
|
Scientific Name:
|
Torpedo panthera
|
|
Species Authority:
|
Olfers, 1831
|
|
Common Name/s:
|
|
Assessment Information
|
Red List Category & Criteria:
|
DD ver 3.1 (2001)
|
|
Year Assessed:
|
2006
|
|
Assessor/s:
|
de Carvalho, M.R. & McCord, M.E.
|
|
Evaluator/s:
|
Fowler, S.L. & Kyne, P.M. (Shark Red List Authority)
|
|
Justification:
|
Torpedo panthera has a patchy distribution in the northern Indian Ocean, being recorded from the northern and southern Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman and the Bay of Bengal. The species likely has a wider distribution than presently known and very little is known of its biology. Parts of its known range are under severe fishing pressure from shrimp trawl fisheries, where it is taken as bycatch, although details are not known. There is a very low probability of survivorship when discarded at sea and fisheries in this area are unlikely to cease or decrease in the future, indicating that population declines are likely. However, the complete lack of catch data and scarcity of information on biology and distribution precludes an assessment beyond Data Deficient. An effort is required to obtain bycatch data in order to quantify fishing mortality.
|
Geographic Range
|
Range Description:
|
As presently known, a patchily known range in the Western Indian Ocean. The species probably occurs from the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Oman to the Bay of Bengal.
Reports from Eastern Africa (south of Somalia) and from the Persian Gulf are missidentifications (Carvalho et al. 2002).
|
|
Countries:
|
Native:
Djibouti; Egypt; Eritrea; India; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Oman; Pakistan; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; Sudan; Yemen
|
|
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
|
Native:
Indian Ocean-western
|
Population
|
Population:
|
As presently documented the range is disjunct, but it may be continuous from the Red Sea to the Bay of Bengal.
|
|
Population Trend:
|
|
Habitat and Ecology
|
Habitat and Ecology:
|
Recorded on muddy and sandy bottoms of the continental shelf to depths of ~110 m. Very little known of the habitat and biology of this species. Reaches ~110 cm TL. Male T. panthera reaches sexual maturity before 28.1 cm TL when its claspers become completely calcified. No information is known from female T. panthera (Carvalho et al. 2002).
Life history parameters
Age at maturity (years): Unknown.
Size at maturity (total length): Unknown (female); at least before 28.1 cm TL (male).
Longevity (years): Unknown.
Maximum size (total length): ~110 cm TL.
Size at birth (cm): Unknown.
Average reproductive age (years): Unknown.
Gestation time (months): Unknown.
Reproductive periodicity: Unknown.
Average annual fecundity or litter size: Unknown.
Annual rate of population increase: Unknown.
Natural mortality: Unknown.
|
|
System:
|
Marine
|
|
List of Habitats:
|
| 10.1 | Marine Oceanic - Epipelagic (0-200m) |
|
Threats
|
Threats:
|
Parts of the species’ known distribution are under severe fishing pressure, particularly from shrimp trawls. Its benthic nature makes this species, as with other sluggish torpedo rays, susceptible to capture in trawl gear. It is extremely unlikely that shrimp trawl fisheries in that area will decrease or cease in the future, and populations are likely to become depleted through bycatch mortality (indeed declines may have already occurred but there are no data to consider this possibility). Presumably discarded when taken as bycatch, but survivorship is not known (although is probably low).
|
|
List of Threats:
|
| 4.1.1.2 | Accidental mortality - Bycatch - Fisheries-related - Netting (ongoing) |
|
Conservation Actions
|
Conservation Actions:
|
Surveying to determine population status and distribution is required. Of priority is an analysis of the threat from shrimp trawling. Subsequent regulation of shrimp trawling may be necessary.
The development and implementation of management plans (national and/or regional e.g., under the FAO International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks: IPOA–Sharks) are required to facilitate the conservation and sustainable management of all chondrichthyan species in the region. See Anon. (2004) for an update of progress made by nations in the range of T. panthera.
|
|
List of Conservation Actions:
|
| 1.1.1 | Policy-based actions - Management plans - Development (needed) |
| 1.1.2 | Policy-based actions - Management plans - Implementation (needed) |
| 3.2 | Research actions - Population numbers and range (needed) |
| 3.3 | Research actions - Biology and Ecology (needed) |
| 3.4 | Research actions - Habitat status (needed) |
| 3.5 | Research actions - Threats (needed) |
| 3.8 | Research actions - Conservation measures (needed) |
| 3.9 | Research actions - Trends/Monitoring (needed) |
|
Bibliography
|
Bibliography:
|
Anonymous. 2004. Report on the implementation of the UN FAO International Plan of Action for Sharks (IPOA–Sharks). AC20 Inf. 5. Twentieth meeting of the CITES Animals Committee, Johannesburg (South Africa), 29 March–2 April 2004. De Carvalho, M.R., Stehmann, M.F.W. and Manilo, L.G. 2002. Torpedo adenensis, a new species of electric ray from the Gulf of Aden, with comments on nominal species of Torpedo from the Western Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, and adjacent area (Chondrichthyes: Torpediniformes: Torpedinidae). American Museum Novitates. 3369:1–34. Shark Specialist Group. For more information, see the Specialist Group website.
|
|
|
