Painted Ray

As there seems to be confusion in some quarters as to which species are commonly known as Painted Ray in the British Isles & Ireland please select your choice above result will be posted here when the poll closes...

No need for a poll. Painted ray are small eyed in England. Undulate are just undulate. Undulate are sometimes confuse with painted in Ireland.

No need for a poll. Painted ray are small eyed in England. Undulate are just undulate. Undulate are sometimes confuse with painted in Ireland.

Just emphasising a point...

[chuckaroo]

No need for a poll. Painted ray are small eyed in England. Undulate are just undulate. Undulate are sometimes confuse with painted in Ireland.

Just emphasising a point...

i reckon it just depends on where you come from exactly and/or where you first heard/read someone else calling it a certain common name, or indeed what the majority of people around you are calling it. scientific descriptions and allocated latin names will (ideally) define a species outright whereas regional or local variations of common names will always vary! im not sure myself what the majority believe but i hope to find out!
if the majority of people here vote a certain name then well and good, it will maybe hopefully show (depending on the number of people who vote and from what areas these people come from in ireland i.e. whether its a proportionate and whether it is significant) what the majority of people in ireland have learnt it to be.

Last edited by chuckaroo on Fri May 06, 2011 12:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

No need for a poll. Painted ray are small eyed in England. Undulate are just undulate. Undulate are sometimes confuse with painted in Ireland.

i have an English book here (British Sea Fishes by Dr. Frances Dipper) that states the opposite i.e. that the undulate ray is also referred to as the painted ray.... and the the small-eyed is just the small-eyed...
this is also the case with the British Shark Trust: http://www.sharktrust.org/content.asp?did=34697

maybe these differs to the opinion of the majority of Ireland (and/or maybe the rest of GB), lets see

as we all know, many of the same species of fish are called completely different common names from different areas / parts of the world and, likewise, the same common name is being applied to completely different species also!

and so it goes on.....

I have noticed a lot of confusion between all of the ray species

i've heard people refer to blonde ray as small eyed ray too??!!
spotted ray and cuckoo ray been called homlyn ray

but with a bit of study and checking latin names against each other the general consensus is:

painted ray = smalleyed ray
roker = thornback ray
eagle ray = rat tail ray
spotted ray = homlyn ray
undulate ray = undulate ray
blonde ray = blonde ray
etc etc...

this is also the case with the British Shark Trust: http://www.sharktrust.org/content.asp?did=34697

just looked at the link and they are as i would call them, only difference is I would call a small-eyed ray a painted ray


however it states common names to be as below... but that's generally the population getting names wrong hence why they are listed as a common name..

SMALL-EYED RAY, Small-Eyed Skate, Painted Ray,
Sandy Ray, Owl Ray, Painted Skate, Raie Melee (Fr),
Raya Colorada (Es), Kleinoogrog (Ne).

UNDULATE RAY, Painted Ray, Undulate Skate,
Raie Brunette (Fr), Raya mosaica (Es), Razza ondulata (It),
Golfrog (Ne).

if everyone started calling a cuckoo ray a homlyn ray, then that too after a term would have the common name of homlyn ray.. you see where I'm going with this!

I had not heard of the small eyed ray being called the painted ray until I moved to Ireland, On the shores of South Wales and Southern England they are always small-eyed. Since I moved here I have only heard them called painted up to that last thread which seems to have thrown things into total chaos.

call it/them what yous wish lads, everyone will, thats why they are referred to as 'Common' names.....
there is no right or wrong answer - it just depends where you are from and what you have grown-up with..

confusion will always prevail!... ...as with many common names for ALL species!!
its always interesting to see the variations - it keeps you on your toes..

from the poll here it is obvious (over 90%) that the small-eyed is the one also being associated with the name 'painted'.. with the SAI guys