black stingray

Known as one of the largest species of stingrays in Australia the black stingray, Bathytoshia thetidis previously known as Dasyatis thetidis, gets the common name from their black colour. Sometimes a grey-brown colour more than that black, they usually have a single stinging spine and have sharp thorns along the dorsal midline. So... maybe don't touch it. In fact, don't touch any wild animals.

The black stingrays grows up to about 1.8 metres (m) in disc width (DW) and 4 m total length (TL).  They can be confused with the short tail stingray, now Bathytoshia brevicaudata previously Dasyatis brevicaudata. The short tail stingray has, surprise, a shorter tail and no thorns on the back. While it may be one of the largest species in Australia, it isn't found just there! This species has been recorded on the coastal and offshore waters of south-eastern Africa, Australia and New Zealand. 

Also, fun fact, we have it from a stingray friend that they are considered the same species as the Hawaiian stingray, Bathytoshia lata... but not everybody is convinced that is the case. It is also known as the thorntail stingray or longtail stingray and the IUCN has assessed all of them as Least Concern (LC).

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GLOSSARY

• IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature.​

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