乐生活Chinese group /Platyrhina sinensis
The largest species length is 68cm. It is distributed only in the coastal waters of the Northwest Pacific from self channel to bay (25 degrees N-15 degrees N, 105 degree E-120 degrees E). This species mainly lives in the rocky or sandy seabed with a depth of about 60m. It is a typical benthic fish with low kinetic energy and small benthos as the main food. The Chinese fishes are oviparous fish, and their embryos depend on yolk sac at the early stage. Later, they absorb the uterine fluid and get nourishment indirectly by absorbing the filaments of the uterine wall. In 2011, China’s group of rays was split into China’s cluster rays and /P.tangi, which is widely distributed from north to Japan and south to northern Vietnam. The distinguishing feature of the two species is that the former has 2-3 rows of dorsal nodules, while the latter has only one row. The Chinese flying rays recorded on the coast of Japan, Korea and Northern China should be misjudged. At present, we know little about this species, and most of the pictures of Chinese Tuanfan rays circulated on the Internet are Tang’s Tuanfan rays.
At present, IUCN is estimated to be VU for this species. China’s cluster rays often become the catch products of bottom trawl, and are often used for food in their habitats. Because of the poor reproductive capacity of China’s rays, its population is highly vulnerable to overfishing.
