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Records of morphological abnormalities in the Brazilian electric ray Narcine brasiliensis (Olfers, 1831) (Chondrichthyes: Narcinidae) in the southwestern Atlantic

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Abstract

This study provides the first record of external morphological deformities in Chondrichthyes of the family Narcinidae. We report here abnormalities in two individuals of Narcine brasiliensis (Olfers, 1831), in which one of them had its pectoral fins not fused with the head and the other presented anophthalmia, with the left eye absent. Possible causes, including the high concentration of pollutants in the region, are briefly discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the fishermen from the “Pró-Pesca Project: fishing the knowledge” and the Zoological Collection team at Santa Cecília University. We are also thankful to Dr. Otto Bismarck Fazzano Gadig for all the comments in the text, discussions, and anatomic identification, as well as to the anonymous reviewers for the great improvements in the manuscript.

Funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biosciences, São Paulo State University, UNESP, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil

    Fernanda Andreoli Rolim

  2. Institute of Biosciences, Coastal Campus, São Paulo State University, UNESP, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil

    Fernanda Andreoli Rolim & Teodoro Vaske-Júnior

  3. Zoological Collection of University of Santa Cecília, UNISANTA, Santos, São Paulo, Brazil

    Matheus Marcos Rotundo & Gustavo Cardoso Stabile

Authors
  1. Fernanda Andreoli Rolim
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  2. Matheus Marcos Rotundo
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  3. Gustavo Cardoso Stabile
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  4. Teodoro Vaske-Júnior
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernanda Andreoli Rolim.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

No animal testing was performed during this study.

Sampling and field studies

All necessary permits for sampling and observational field studies have been obtained by the authors from the competent authorities and are mentioned in the acknowledgments, if applicable. The study is compliant with CBD and Nagoya protocols.

Data availability

All data are available in the manuscript.

Author contribution

FAR, TVJ and MMR conceived and designed research. MMR performed sampling and field studies. FAR, TVJ and MMR conducted material handling in the laboratory. GCS performed the radiographs. FAR analyzed data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Thiel

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Rolim, F.A., Rotundo, M.M., Stabile, G.C. et al. Records of morphological abnormalities in the Brazilian electric ray Narcine brasiliensis (Olfers, 1831) (Chondrichthyes: Narcinidae) in the southwestern Atlantic. Mar. Biodivers. 50, 44 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-020-01072-w

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