Smooth Butterfly Ray


Smooth Butterfly Ray - Gymnura micrura

*Information from FAO Species Identification Guide Western Central Atlantic*

Roughtail Stingray
Size
Maximum size 90 to 120 cm disc width; males mature at 42 cm disc width, females mature at 50 cm disc width, and neonates 16 to 22 cm at birth.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries

Benthic along the coast over sandy bottoms, but also occurs in estuaries.  Food consists
of bivalve molluscs, crustaceans including mysids, shrimps, crabs, and ray-finned fishes.

Distribution
Recorded from Chesapeake Bay to Brazil, and common in Gulf of Mexico, but unrecorded from the greater and Lesser Antilles. Records of Gymnura micrura from the eastern Atlantic, and Indian and Pacific Oceans probably refer to other species.