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ROUND STINGRAY

Round Stingray

Photograph copyright Andy Murch

View all available Round Stingray Pictures in the Shark Pictures Database

Common Names: Round stingray, Round fantail stingray, Round fantail ray.

Latin Name: Taeniura grabata.

Family: Dasyatidae.

Identification: Circular disc, tail slightly shorter than disc length, sting present on tail. Dorsum brown or olive grey with scattered small dark spots and blotches. Ventrum pale yellow/cream.

Size: Maximum disc width about 100cm.

Habitat: 10 to 300m on sand or mud sometimes around reefs.

Abundance and distribution: Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean, Red Sea and western Indian Ocean. In the Atlantic from Canary Islands and Cape Verde Islands and along the African coastline from Mauritania to Angola. Sightings of round stingrays in the southern Mediterranean are less common.

Diet and Behavior: Diet consists of benthic fishes and crustaceans.

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous.

Photographs: El Cabron Marine Park, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands.

Similar species: There are a number of other dasyatid rays that share their range with the round stingray but none have the same body shape. Two similar species are the Thorntail stingray Dasyatis centroura and the Common stingray Dasyatis pastinaca.

Reaction to divers: Moves away only when closely disturbed.

Diving logistics: The Round Stingray is frequently encountered while diving around the Canary Islands. Many dive shops should be able to show you sites where this species occurs. A good place to start would be by attending the stingray feed at Los Gigantes on Tenerife.

Other diving locations submitted by readers:

Other names for the round stingray:

圆条尾魟 China Mandarin Chinese

圓條尾魟 China Mandarin Chinese

Ταινίουρα Greece Greek

Basternâk Afriqyeh Lebanon Arabic

Chucho negro Canary Is. Spanish

Chupare redondo Spain Spanish

Pastenague africaine France French

Pastinaca redonda Spain Spanish

Patelnica Poland Polish

Ratão Cape Verde Portuguese

Ronde waaierstaartpijlstaartrog Netherlands Dutch

Round fantail stingray South Africa

Tenioura Greece Greek

Tırpana balığı Turkey Turkish

Trigone africano Italy Italian

Trnucha okrouhlá Czech Rep Czech

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