[2] This rare ray is only known from shallow coastal Atlantic waters in Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania.

[2][3][4] The upperparts of the false shark ray are greyish or greenish-brown and densely covered in white spots.

[2] Overall it resembles the African wedgefish (Rhynchobatus luebberti) found in the same region, but it has a blunt rounded snout somewhat like the shark ray or bowmouth guitarfish (Rhina ancylostoma) of the Indo-Pacific.

[2] Although long known by the local Imraguen people, the first record confirmed by scientists was in 1998 and it only received its species description in 2016.

[2] Very little is known about the behavior of the false shark ray, but a 2-metre (6.6 ft) female caught in February had ripe ovocytes and shrimp in the stomach, while another had moray eels in the stomach.