DiscoverSpeciesSharks and rays
Longtail Butterfly Ray
Gymnura poecilura
- Usual depth6–40 m
- Water temperature27–30 °C
- Best monthsMarch, July, and September
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Teja Yantrapalli, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The longtail butterfly ray is a species of butterfly ray, family Gymnuridae, native to the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to southern Japan and western Indonesia. Growing up to 92 cm (36 in) across, this ray has a lozenge-shaped pectoral fin disc about twice as wide as long, colored brown to gray above with many small, light spots. The spiracles behind its eyes have smooth rims. This species can be identified by its tail, which is about as long as the snout-to-vent distance, lacks fins, and bears nine to twelve each of alternating black and white bands.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Longtail butterfly ray”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 18 records
- February: 12 records
- March: 21 records
- April: 8 records
- May: 3 records
- June: 15 records
- July: 34 records
- August: 20 records
- September: 27 records
- October: 15 records
- November: 8 records
- December: 18 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 6–40 m · Deepest record: 40 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 27–30 °C
Photos
(c) Shaunak Modi, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Ashwit Shetty, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) sucker69420, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Nicola Crockford, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Longtail Butterfly Ray, Long-tailed butterfly ray, Longtail butterfly ray
Names in 2 more languages
- Japanese
- Onagatsubakuroei, オナガツバクロエイ
- Thai
- ปลากระเบนผีเสื้อหางยาว
Other scientific names: Pastinaca kunsa, Pastinaca kunsua, Pteroplatea annulata, Pteroplatea poecilura, Raja poecilura, Trygon kunsa, Trygon poecilurus, Urogymnus poecilura
Similar species
Smooth butterfly rayGymnura micrura
- Australian Butterfly Ray
Gymnura australis
- Japanese butterflyray
Gymnura japonica
- Zonetail Butterfly Ray
Gymnura zonurus
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 171 open-data records from 1804 to 2010.
- Species data updated November 3, 2026.
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