Taeniurops meyeni | UAE National Red List of Marine Species: Reef-building corals, cartilaginous fishes and select bony fishes

Taxa
Taeniurops meyeni | (Müller & Henle, 1841)
Location
Countries in Assessment
United Arab Emirates
Country ISO code(s)
ARE
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Off
Scope (Assessment)
National
Taxon
Taxonomic Group
Vertebrates
Taxonomic Group Level 2
Fishes
Assessed taxon level
Species
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
The Blotched Fantail Ray occurs throughout UAE waters. Globally, it is widespread in the Indo-West Pacific (Last et al. 2016).
Habitats and Ecology
Ecological system type
Terrestrial system
No
Freshwater system
No
Marine system
Yes
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
The Blotched Fantail Ray is benthic around coral reef habitats, seamounts and on sand substrates mostly at depths of 20-60 m (although records from depths to 400 m in pelagic longlines near seamounts exist) (Compagno et al. 1989, Last and Compagno 1999, Last et al. 2016). It reaches a maximum size of 180 cm disc width (DW) (Last and Stevens 2009). Males mature at 100-110 cm DW and size at birth is 30-35 cm DW (Last et al. 2016). It is a viviparous species, with reported litter size of up to seven young (Compagno et al. 1989). Age data are not available, but generation length can be estimated using data from another large dasyatid, the Brown Stingray (Dasyatis lata), females of which mature at 15 years and reach 28 years (Dale and Holland 2012), giving an estimated generation length of 21.5 years.
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Assessed status
Asessment status in full
Near Threatened
Assessment status abreviation
NT
Assessment status criteria
A2cd
Assessment rationale/justification
The Blotched Fantail Ray occurs throughout UAE inshore waters. This species is incidentally captured in inshore fisheries, and mostly discarded in UAE waters. In India and Pakistan, it is under intense and increasing demersal fishing pressure. This species is not targeted or valued in markets of the UAE, trawling has been banned there since 1980 and recently conducted surveys have detected it in the area. Though data specifically from the UAE are not available, and it is not known how individuals occupying the UAE are connected with the broader population of the Arabian Seas region, there is no information available to suggest that its population status differs in the UAE as compared to other parts of its range in the region. Given the threats faced by this species in other parts of the Arabian Seas region, and ongoing threats from discarding and habitat loss in the UAE, it is inferred that declines reported in the Arabian Seas are representative of the status in the UAE. Based on recorded levels of exploitation and decline in habitat quality, it is suspected to have declined by 20-30% over the past three generation lengths, or about 64 years. It is listed as Near Threatened, nearly meeting the thresholds for Vulnerable A2cd.
About the assessment
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemism
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Conservation
Threats listed in assessment
Information pertaining to threats specific to the UAE are unavailable. This species is impacted by bycatch fisheries that are active elsewhere in its range. Marine habitats in the Gulf are experiencing high levels of disturbance and quickly deteriorating due to major impacts from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes (Sheppard et al. 2010). Corals in the UAE and Arabian Gulf have severely declined due to the increasing frequency of mass bleaching events caused by rising water temperatures, which is a consequence of climate change, as well as pervasive coastal development (Riegl et al. 2018, Burt et al. 2019).
Conservation Measures

Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:

Scientific Name Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus
Taeniurops meyeni Animalia Chordata Chondrichthyes Myliobatiformes Dasyatidae Taeniurops