Torpedo

Palandačić, Anja, Kapun, Martin, Greve, Carola, Schell, Tilman, Kirchner, Sandra, Kruckenhauser, Luise, Szucsich, Nikolaus & Bogutskaya, Nina, 2024, From historical expedition diaries to whole genome sequencing: A case study of the likely extinct Red Sea torpedo ray, Zoologica Scripta 53 (1), pp. 32-51 : 40

3.1.3 | Morphological comparison with other Torpedo species

The dorsal color pattern of T. suessii easily distinguishes it from congeners from the northwestern Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and adjacent gulfs: from (1) T. panthera with small, irregular whitish spots; (2) T. sinuspersici characterized by a vermiculate or marbled whitish pattern over a dark brown background; (3) T. fuscomaculata , though variable but typically with numerous dark spots and blotches, each smaller in size than interorbital space; and (4) T. adenensis with a completely plain color pattern ( de Carvalho et al., 2002, 2016; Fraser-Brunner, 1949; Peters, 1855).

Torpedo suessii differs further from both T. panthera and T. adenensis by having no median integumental flap in the clasper glans region, and from T. adenensis and T. sinuspersici by smaller total number of vertebrae, 84–87 (vs. 96–102). It also differs from T. sinuspersici in having the base of the first dorsal fin not extending posterior to level of pelvic fin base, i.e., entirely over pelvic fin bases (vs. extending posterior to level of pelvic fin base, i.e., not entirely over pelvic fin bases). Furthermore, T. suessii can be distinguished from T. fuscomaculata by a shorter nasal curtain, with length about a third of internarial width (vs. half), and a longer distance between eye and spiracle, which is longer than the orbit diameter (vs. shorter).

For more details on morphological comparison, see Table S4.