What is "butterfly ray"

Ray \Ray\, n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zo["o]l.)

1. Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes of the order Rai[ae], including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc.

2. In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate.

   Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray ( Stoasodon n[`a]rinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies.

   Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray ( Pteroplatea Maclura), having very broad pectoral fins.

   Devil ray. See Sea Devil.

   Eagle ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatid[ae], or [AE]tobatid[ae]. The common European species ( Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and miller.

   Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo.

   Starry ray, a common European skate ( Raia radiata).

   Sting ray, any one of numerous species of rays of the family Trygonid[ae] having one or more large, sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also stingaree.

n. A ray (gloss: fish) of the family ''(taxlink Gymnuridae family noshow=1)'' (or, by some accounts, the subfamily ''(taxlink Gymnurinae subfamily noshow=1)'').

n. short-tailed broad-finned stingray

The butterfly rays are a group of rays forming the genus Gymnura and the family Gymnuridae. They are found in warm oceans worldwide, and occasionally in estuaries.

The body of butterfly rays is flattened and surrounded by an extremely broad disc formed by the pectoral fins, which merge in front of the head. They have a very short, thread-like, tail. They range from to in body length.

McEachran et al. place the butterfly rays in the subfamily Gymnurinae of the family Dasyatidae, but this article follows FishBase and ITIS in treating them as a family.