By Katharine Sucher, Science Writing Intern
When one door closes, another opens. The old adage seems to be true, if you’re studying cownose rays.
Jan McDowell, a Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) researcher, and Bob Fisher, VIMS extension staff affiliated with Virginia Sea Grant, recently completed a study of cownose ray genetics. One conclusive finding of the study: cownose rays in the Gulf of Mexico are not mating with those along the East Coast. But that’s not all the researchers learned.
“What this research did was open our eyes to how many unanswered questions there are,” says McDowell of her recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-funded study.
One unanswered question particularly interests the researcher. Could there be an undocumented cownose ray species in Gulf of Mexico?
DNA analysis revealed evidence of cownose rays in the Gulf of Mexico that genetically resemble Rhinoptera brasiliensis, the Brazilian cownose ray. The resemblance was puzzling. While cownose rays are native to the Gulf of Mexico, Brazilian cownose rays are typically only found off a small stretch of Brazil’s coast, more than 4,000 miles away from Florida.
There are multiple possible explanations for this genetic affinity. The findings could be evidence of a new, undocumented ray species or of an expansion of the Brazilian cownose ray’s range. These explanations, however, are only guesses. A definitive answer to this question will require further study, says McDowell.
