The shark ray is vanishing from our oceans—and being made into jewelry

Mar 21, 2023

The bowmouth guitarfish, or shark ray, is an odd-looking sea creature. Its tail resembles a shark's, but its thick body merges into a flat, ray-like head studded with pointy, bony growths, or "thorns."

Many endangered sharks and rays are targeted worldwide for their fins, which are prized in Chinese cuisine. The critically endangered bowmouth guitarfish is also threatened by demand for a different luxury item: jewelry. Its thorns are sliced off and made into ornate rings and bracelets.

Once found across the Indo-Pacific, bowmouth guitarfish are closely related to sawfish and giant guitarfish—shark-like rays that are collectively some of the world's most threatened marine fish—and have declined by over 80 percent in recent decades

Sales of bowmouth thorn jewelry, advertised online