{
  "id": 7240212,
  "title": "Rare bowmouth guitarfish recorded in Singapore waters after 30-year absence",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/rare-bowmouth-guitarfish-recorded-in-singapore-waters-after-30-year",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-14T04:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Straits Times",
    "slug": "straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/rare-bowmouth-guitarfish-recorded-in-singapore-waters-after-30-year-absence"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A 30-year absence ends for the critically endangered bowmouth guitarfish in Singapore waters. The National University of Singapore's Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum recently reported this sighting. Bowmouth guitarfish, once plentiful across the globe, are now a critically endangered species. Research associate Maryam Kolakkodan recounted how footage from a social media user captured the rare fish's silhouette on October 29, 2022. The solitary fish, estimated to be 1.5 to 2 meters long, was filmed near Bedok Jetty and then swam away after cruising for three to five minutes. This observation, documented by Kolakkodan and her co-authors, marks the first formal record since 1995 when a similar specimen was caught off Marine Parade. The bowmouth guitarfish, often dubbed the \"shark ray\" due to its shark-like body and ray-like fins, is the most genetically unique lineage of jawed animals with backbones. It faces severe threats from overfishing, habitat degradation, and wildlife trafficking. The species is crucial for preserving 88 million years of evolutionary history, as it is the only surviving species of the Rhina genus. Conservation efforts are underway internationally, with Jeff Bezos and Leonardo DiCaprio backing the protection and rewilding of the species. Singapore's busy waters act as a corridor for such endangered species, with satellite-tagging efforts showing the fish can travel over 100km from their original locations. The broader research project, funded by Mandai Nature, aims to understand the distribution of sharks and rays within Singapore's territorial waters, emphasizing the importance of international collaboration for the species' conservation.",
  "summary": "Anglers at Bedok Jetty had seen and filmed one of these rays, estimated to be between 1.5m and 2m in length.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}