- About
- With 500+ faculty, staff and students and three campus locations, the Batten School & VIMS are equipped to tackle pressing challenges through research, education and advisory service.
  Learn More
- Research & Advisory
- Purple marsh crabs are significantly disrupting carbon cycling in salt marshes along the East Coast of the U.S., according to a study led by Batten School & VIMS scientists.
  Learn More
- Batten School
- The R. Todd Stravitz Scholars Program will provide full tuition support for students pursuing the new bachelor’s degree in coastal & marine sciences at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
  Read More
- Engage
- Popular, free camps enable rising third through eighth graders to learn about the Chesapeake Bay, coastal ecosystems and environmental stewardship.
  
  Read More
- News & Events
- National TRAP Program funds large-scale cleanup of discarded fishing gear, first round of subawards totaling more than $1.4M supports 11 projects focused on removing derelict fishing gear from coastal waters in nine U.S. states and Palau.
  
  Learn More
- Giving
- As an expression of parental pride in their daughter, Taylor Spencer ‘83 and Martha Spencer recently established an undergraduate field research endowment at the Batten School & VIMS.
  
  Read More

Southern stingray

Dasyatis americana

Information and species illustrations courtesy of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Species Information
Size Maximum: 150 cm disc width; males mature at 51 cm disc width, females mature at 75 to 80 cm disc width, and young are 17 to 18 cm at birth.
Diagnostic characters Disc rhombic, about 1.2 times as broad as long; snout barely projecting; anterior angle of snout about 135 degrees ; outer and posterior corners of disc abruptly rounded or nearly acute-angled. Mouth arched; teeth arranged in 39 to 56 rows in the upper jaw. Teeth of females and juveniles with rounded cusps, those of mature males with sharp pointed cusps. Centre of floor of mouth with 3 stout papillae arranged in transverse series, sometimes single additional papilla on one or both sides. Tail slender and much longer than disc width; usually 1 (sometimes several or none) long, serrated, and poisonous spine(s) on base of tail; no dorsal fins or caudal fin; upper surface of tail with a low longitudinal ridge posterior to spine, lower surface with a longitudinal fin-fold originating at level of spine, depth of fold equal to height of tail above fold. Pelvic fins with a straight anterior margin and a rounded outer corner. A median row of irregularly (juveniles and half-grown individuals) or regularly (adults) spaced tubercles along midline from nuchal region to base of tail; a short longitudinal row of scapular tubercles on each side of midline; denticles in band along midline from between orbits to base of tail. Colour: dorsal surface light brown, grey, or olive, varying with substrate, with pale spot on midline of snout in front of eyes. Ventral surface white with grey or brown margins. Longitudinal ridge and fin-fold of tail dark brown.
Habitat, biology, and fisheries Inhabits shallow waters, burying in sandy bottoms (more rarely, muddy bottoms). This species is an active swimmer, migrating in the summer months along the surface to the higher latitudes. It is found in water ranging from 15.4 to 30.3°C, generally at high salinities (28.5 to 36.2‰) but occasionally occurs in estuaries and fresh water. Feeds on bottom-dwelling invertebrates, mainly bivalves and worms; also on shrimps, crabs, and small ray-finned fishes. Litters range from 3 to 5. Caught mainly with trammel nets and bottom longlines; also with spears. Mainly east coast of the USA and Venezuela; to a lesser extent north coast of Colombia. Marketed salted; the flesh of the disc is well esteemed; remainder of body used in the preparation of gelatin and good quality oil. Very destructive to cockle and oyster farms; also dangerous to bathers and fishers because of the wounds it can inflict with its poisonous spine.
Distribution Widely distributed from New Jersey to Florida, throughout the Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas, and the Greater and Lesser Antilles, and bordering the northern coast of South America to southeastern Brazil.
Citations Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 1: Introduction, molluscs, crustaceans, hagfishes, sharks, batoid fishes, and chimaeras. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1-600. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 601-1374. Carpenter, K.E. (ed) The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 3: Bony fishes part 2 (Opistognathidae to Molidae), sea turtles and marine mammals. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. Rome, FAO. 2002. pp. 1375-2127.