Dasyatis brevicaudatus (Shorttail stingray)

(Hutton, 1875)

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Chondrichthyes > Elasmobranchii > Batoidei >  Myliobatoidei > Dasyatidae

Dasyatis brevicaudatus (Shorttail stingray) [Illustration by Ann Hecht ©]

Identification

A huge, thick, plain stingray with a bluntly angular snout and pectoral disk with rounded tips, thick-based tail less than body length (longer in young), and a small upper and long lower caudal finfold, the lower not reaching tail tip. Disk smooth except for a large slender thorn on tail in front of stings; often two stings, the front one small, the rear sting huge. Colour grey-brown or bluish-grey above, with a row of small pale blue spots at each pectoral fin base, white below, tail plain.

Size

To 4.3 m TL, 2.1 m DW.

Range

East coast, False Bay to southern Mozambique; southern Australia and New Zealand.

Habitat

Offshore on the outer shelf and uppermost slope at 182 to 476 m, but sometimes close inshore.

Biology

Virtually unknown.

Human Impact

Caught by bottom trawlers and occasionally by anglers.

Text by Leonard J.V. Compagno, David A. Ebert and Malcolm J. Smale