Species Fact Profile: Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari)

                                                              Spotted Eagle Ray                                                                                                                     Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen, 1790)

Range: Tropical and Warm Temperate Ocean Waters, Worldwide

Habitat:  Reef Edges, Warm-Water Seas with Mud/Sand/Gravel Substrate, Estuaries, Mangrove Swamps.  As deep as 80 meters

Diet: Marine Invertebrates (Worms, Mollusks, Cephalopods, Crustaceans), Small Fish

Social Grouping: Schools up to 50

Reproduction: Courtship consists of male chasing, nibbling female.  Polygynous.  Eggs hatch within female's body, then born live.  2-4 pups independent at birth.  Sexually mature when they are about half of the adult size, usually at 4-6 years old

Lifespan: 20 Years

      Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered

•       Maximum length 330 centimeters, but usually 140 centimeters.  Maximum weigh 230 kilograms.  Snout is long, flat, and rounded, with a thick head; pectoral disc is sharply curved with angular corners.  No caudal fin.  Jaw is a single row of flat, chevron-shaped teeth.  Long whip-like tail with a spine near the base.  No sexual dimorphism in size or coloration
•       Dorsal background color is black or dark blue, covered with numerous small white spots.  The ventral surface is white.
•       Sharks are primary predators, especially silvertip sharks and great hammerheads.  Sharks have been observed swimming behind pregnant females, eating pups as they emerge
•       Observed breaching, leaping out of the water, possibly to avoid predators or to dislodge parasites.  Some females have been observed giving birth while breaching; possible that the impact of landing back in the water helps to expel pups.  Occasional reports of rays jumping out of water and landing in boats
•          Stings from this species have occasionally resulted in deaths to humans
•          Some taxonomists have divided this species into three, with A. narinari being the Atlantic species, Pacific white-spotted eagle ray, A. laticeps representing the eastern Pacific, and the ocellated eagle ray, A. ocellatus being the Indo-Pacific population
• ·        Taken as bycatch in gillnets or trawls.  Little commercial demand for species, though in parts of its range the flesh is highly valued.  Sometimes used for fishmeal or oil.  In South Africa, many rays were historically caught and killed in nets that were strung around coastal areas for shark protection.  Due to the fact that this species spends significant amount of time in estuaries, it may be threatened by pollution and habitat degradation