Southern eagle ray

4/24/2017

The southern eagle ray (Myliobatis tenuicaudatus) is a light olive-green coloured ray, adorned with blue spots and bars along its wings. Its underbelly is a pale colour, though sometimes it is grey instead. Their skin is uniformly smooth and lacks any rough denticles or thorns. And like many rays, they have a whip-like tail.

Born at around 20-30 cm in length, they reach up to 160 cm disc length (300+ cm TL). Males mature at about 65 cm in length, while females mature at 80 cm disc width. These rays are commonly found near beaches, shoals and over sandflats in shallow water off temperate southern Australia (Western AU to Queensland) including Tasmania and New Zealand. You can see these animals from inshore down to 130 m deep.

Their diet includes molluscs, annelid worms and teleost fish. Reproduction history, however, is unknown besides them being viviparous. Until recently, the southern eagle ray was called Myliobatis australis in Australia (a junior synonym of M. tenuicaudatus). The IUCN has assessed these animals as Least Concern (LC).

have you seen these animals?

glossary

Disc length (DL): A standard measurement of stingray; disc is slightly longer than it is wide.
Dermal denticles: Scales found in cartilaginous fishes: sharks, skates, rays, chimaeras.
IUCN: International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Molluscs: The largest marine phylum; invertebrate animals, many of which have shells.
Teleost: Bony fishes.

Viviparous: Eggs hatch inside the female's body and the babies are fed by a placenta which transfers nourishment from the mother to the babies (via an umbilical cord which is connected to the baby shark between the pectoral fins).