It’s a shark! No, wait, it’s a ray! It’s a shark-ray! Although all ray in the front and all shark in the back the shark ray (Rhina ancylostoma) really is a species of ray, but in appearance it looks like some kind of transitional form, making it easy to see the close relationship between sharks and rays. Currently the shark ray, also known as the bowmouth guitarfish and mud skate, is classified in the Rhinidae (wedgefish) family, a group of other shark-like rays, and is the sole member of its genus. This classification is subject to change as Rhina has been a difficult genus to classify with many different relationships proposed and rejected.
Shark rays are considered rare but are widely distributed along the coast of the Indo-Pacific, starting from South Africa all the way up along the coast to Korea and Japan, and south to the northern and eastern coast of Australia. They mostly cruise along the sea floor where they feed on bottom dwelling fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks.
The Wild Safari shark ray was produced in 2007 and measures 4.7” (12cm). Actual shark rays can grow up to 8.9’ (2.7 meters), putting this toy at 1/22 in scale. Shark rays are attractively colored and patterned and this is portrayed well in this figure. Dorsally the body is blue-grey with lighter colored spots along the body and pectoral fins, similar to a whale shark. Above each pectoral fin is a black spot with pale edging, across the head between the eyes are pale colored bands. The underside is white. Colors and patterns tend to be bolder in younger individuals.
Two thorny ridges of dermal denticles run above the eyes, two more past the eyes, and another along the back. Additional clusters of denticles that should run above the shoulders are noticeably absent. Other shark ray figures by other companies have more faithfully distributed these ridges. Aside from that small detail the figure is otherwise accurate to the species.
The Safari shark ray is a superb little figure of a fascinating and visually distinct animal. This figure is still in production and easy to find, and a must have in any collection of chondrichthyes. If this one doesn’t appeal to you there are other shark ray figures produced by Schleich, CollectA, and Kaiyodo.
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Good review of a good figure!
Isn’t the Wild Safari line by Safari Ltd. divided into separate sub-lines? If so, perhaps we should include the full line name in the title as well?
Good call, I’ll edit the title.
I like this figure and have it in my Synoptic Collection. The CollectA one is a little better detailed and probably represents a more mature specimen, but I still like the Safari figure nonetheless.