Pastinachus sephen 

Class: Chondrichthyes
Order: Myliobatiformes
Family: Dasyatidae


Distribution and habitat

  • It has a widespread distribution in the tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific, from South Africa and the Red Seato Japan and Australia, including Melanesia and Micronesia.
  • They are amphidromous and known to enter estuaries and rivers.
  • They are usually found on sandy bottoms in coastal waters and on coral reefs to a depth of 60 meters.

About the fish

  • A large, plain, dark stingray with an angular snout and pectoral disc.
  • The most distinctive characteristic of the cowtail stingray is the large, flag-like ventral fold on its tail, which is prominent when it is swimming.
  • The coloration is a uniform grayish brown to black above and mostly white below. The tail fold and tip are black.
  • This species may reach 3 meters long and 1.8 meters across, and 250 kg in weight.
  • The pectoral fin disk is very thick, with almost straight anterior margins and rounded apices.
  • Theeyes are very small and widely spaced.
  • Themouth is narrow, with 20 rows of distinctive hexagonal, high-crowned teeth in each jaw and five papillae on the mouth floor.
  • Thetail has a single venomous spine located well backwards of the pelvic fins.
  • The disk surface is covered by a broad band of fine dermal denticlesextending from near the tip of the snout to the upper surface of the tail, excluding the extreme margins of the disk.
  • They are solitary foragers that feed on bony fishes,crustaceans, polychaete worms, sipunculids, and molluscs.
  • These rays are preyed upon by various species of hammerhead and requiem sharks, as well as by the bottlenose dolphin. When threatened, they consistently flee at a 45° angle away from the predator, a trajectory that allows them to maximize the distance covered while still keeping the predator within their field of vision.
  • Like other stingrays, reproduction in this species is ovoviviparous, with the embryos sustained in late development by histotroph (“uterine milk”) delivered via specialized structures.
  • The females giving birth to live young measuring 18 cm across or more.
  • IUCN has listed the species as Near Threatened.
  • This species is targeted by commercial fisheries as a source of high-quality shagreen, a type of leather, and its populations are now under threat from heavy exploitation.