Short-tail stingray

Short-tail stingray
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Elasmobranchii
Order:	Rajiformes
Family:	Dasyatidae
Genus:	Dasyatis
Species:	D. brevicaudata
Binomial name
Dasyatis brevicaudata (Hutton, 1875)

The short-tail stingray, Dasyatis brevicaudata, is a stingray of the family Dasyatidae, found on the continental shelf in the Indian Ocean, and around temperate and subtropical coasts of Australia and New Zealand, at depths of up to 470 m. Its length is up to 430 cm, and it is reputed to be the largest stingray in the world, weighing more than 350 kg.

The short-tail stingray is a large plain stingray with a bluntly angular snout and pectoral disc with round tips, a thick-based tail shorter than the body, and with a small upper and a long lower caudal finfold, the lower not reaching the tail tip. The tail ends in a vertically flattened fin-like tip. The disc is smooth except for a large, slender thorn on the tail in front of the stings. There are often 2 stings, the front one small, the rear one huge, which bear toxin glands.

Coloration is grey-brown or bluish-grey dorsally with a row of small, pale blue spots at each pectoral fin base, and white ventrally.

Generally found on soft bottoms and feeds on crabs, mantis shrimps, bivalves, polychaetes, crustaceans and conger eels. The teeth are flattened and plate-like.

It frequently raises its tail in a scorpion-like fashion when approached, but is considered more inquisitive than aggressive. The barbed tail can inflict a severe or potentially fatal wound however.

The short-tail stingray is ovoviviparous.

Also see

Thorntail stingray

References

• Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Dasyatis brevicaudata". FishBase. May 2006 version.
• Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8