Blotched Fantail Ray

7/9/2018

Photographer: Derek Morton © Derek Morton

The Blotched Fantail Ray, Taeniura meyeni, is a gorgeous specimen found in the Indo-west and central Pacific Oceans (especially on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia). Also called the black-blotched stingray, bull ray, blackspotted stingray, giant reef ray and round ribbontail ray, they can grow to about 3.3 metres in total length (TL) and 1.8 m in disc width (DW).

#Finfact: athough they are not aggressive, they have been responsible for at least one human fatality. They have a circular-ish disc that has a mottled black/white pattern o their smooth skin (no thorns!). These benthic animals can be found in inshore and coral reef waters usually on soft bottoms, like sand! A nocturnal animal, they are active predators of small benthic molluscs, crustaceans, and bony fishes.

They are viviparous via placenta, where their young are sustained by yolk and then histotroph ("uterine milk"); momma blotched fantail rays can have up to seven pups. The IUCN has assessed them as Vulnerable (VU) due to a decline in population size due to commercial fishing (targeted and bycatch) and habitat destruction.

EVER HEARD OF THIS SKATE?

GLOSSARY

Bycatch: The part of a fishery’s catch that is made up of non-target species.

Commercial fishery: The activity of catching fish and other seafood for profit.
Crustaceans: Group of animals with a hard exoskeleton, jointed legs and segmented body.
IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Molluscs: The largest marine phylum; invertebrate animals, many of which have shells.
Nocturnal: Active at night.
Pups: Baby sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras.
Viviparous with yolk-sac: Also known as aplacental viviparous and previously known as ovoviviparous/ovoviviparity; it is the production of eggs that are fertilised and hatch inside the female shark but the embryos lack a placental connection to the oviduct or uterus and so do not feed off the mother.