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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
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.