Shovelnose guitarfish (Pseudobatos productus) is a saltwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is mainly found over sand, estuary, at depths of 1–91 m.
Scientific name: Pseudobatos productus · Water: Saltwater, Brackish
Size: up to 137 cm
The shovelnose guitarfish (Pseudobatos productus) is a ray of the family Rhinobatidae, described by William Orville Ayres in 1854 as Rhinobatos productus and later moved to Pseudobatos; it looks like a cross between a shark and a ray, with a pointed shovel-shaped snout, a guitar-shaped body, two dorsal fins set far back and olive to sandy-brown colouring that hides it on the sand. It is endemic to the eastern Pacific, from San Francisco in the United States to the Gulf of California and possibly as far as Mazatlan in Mexico. It is a primitively built batoid whose ancestors date back over 100 million years, reaching sexual maturity at seven to eight years, growing to about 120 cm in males and 137 cm in females and living up to 11 years. In the United States it is fished in southern California, where research suggests La Jolla is preferred adult habitat, living in shallow bays and estuaries rather than open water; surf and bay anglers catch it on cut squid, shrimp or sand crabs fished on the bottom, and it is handled gently and often released. No distinct US fishing season is documented for it.
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