Blunt shovel nose ray vs Clubnose guitarfish

Glaucostegus obtusus compared with Glaucostegus thouin

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blunt shovel nose ray	Clubnose guitarfish
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (cordados)	Chordata (cordados)
Class same	Elasmobranchii	Elasmobranchii
Order same	Rhinopristiformes (Rhinopristiformes)	Rhinopristiformes (Rhinopristiformes)
Family same	Glaucostegidae	Glaucostegidae
Genus same	Glaucostegus	Glaucostegus
Species	Glaucostegus obtusus	Glaucostegus thouin

Evolutionary Relationship

Blunt shovel nose ray and Clubnose guitarfish share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Glaucostegus.

Conservation Status

Blunt shovel nose ray

CR — Critically Endangered

Clubnose guitarfish

CR — Critically Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blunt shovel nose ray	Clubnose guitarfish
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Blunt shovel nose ray

The Blunt shovel nose ray (Glaucostegus obtusus) is a species in the genus Glaucostegus. It is currently classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

Clubnose guitarfish

Glaucostegus thouin, the clubnose guitarfish, is a large elasmobranch in the family Rhinobatidae native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean, ranging from the Red Sea and East African coast across the Indian Ocean to Southeast Asia and northern Australia. This ray reaches lengths of up to approximately 2.7 m and has the characteristic flattened body with a pronounced snout and pectoral fins that give the family its guitarfish name. Like other guitarfishes, it inhabits shallow coastal waters, estuaries, and sandy or muddy seabeds where it forages for benthic invertebrates and small fish. The clubnose guitarfish is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN due to severe population declines driven primarily by overfishing and bycatch in coastal fisheries across its range. Shallow-water elasmobranch species are particularly vulnerable to depletion because they are easily caught in inshore nets and have slow reproductive rates. The species has been assessed as having suffered extremely high population declines over recent decades, with significant range contractions documented across much of its former distribution. Effective fisheries management and marine protected areas in its core habitat are critical for its recovery.