[4] Guitarfish can be ovoviviparous; the embryo matures inside an egg within the mother until it is ready to hatch.

Guitarfish are bottom feeders that bury themselves in mud or sand and eat worms, crabs, and clams.

A clade within this diverse family, the Neoselachii, emerged by the Triassic, with the best-understood neoselachian fossils dating from the Jurassic.

Nelson's 2006 Fishes of the World recognized four genera in this family: Aptychotrema, Rhinobatos, Trygonorrhina, and Zapteryx.

Tarsistes is dubious and may be a synonym of Pseudobatos, and other genera formerly included in Rhinobatidae have been moved to Glaucostegidae, Rhinidae and Trygonorrhinidae.