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BLACK STINGRAY FACTS |
Description
The Black Stingray is grey-brown to black, with white underside. The disc is angular (rhombus shaped) disc with grainy upper surface and there are sharp thorn shaped denticles along the dorsal midline. The tail is much longer than the body, with usually one (sometimes two) stinging spine. This is one of the largest stingrays in Australia. It is similar in appearance to the Smooth Stingray, but the Smooth Stingray has shorter tail, white spots on the disc near the head, and no thorns along the midline.
Other Names
Thorntail stingray
Size
length to 4m, disc width to 1.8m
Habitat
Found on soft bottoms in estuaries, lagoons, and around reefs. Sometimes enters freshwater in Australia. Usually found in shallow water but reported to 440m depth.
Food
crabs, shrimps, bivalves, polychaetes, conger eels
Breeding
Ovoviviparous
Range
The Black Stingray is found in coastal and offshore waters of south-eastern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In Australia it is found round the southern half of the country from northern New South Wales to the central coast of Western Australia.
Classification
| Class: | Chondrichthyes | | Order: | Rajiformes | | Family: | Dasyatidae | | Genus: | Dasyatis | | Species: | thetidis | | Common Name: | Black Stingray |
Relatives in same Genus
Smooth Stingray (D. brevicaudata)
Blue-spotted Stingray (D. kuhlii)
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