A Smooth Stingray at a depth of 12 m, 'Looking Glass', Broughton Island, Port Stephens, New South Wales, June 2004. View larger image. Photo: Leanne Atkinson (David Atkinson in image).
A Smooth Stingray at Mahon Pool, Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales.
A Smooth Stingray at The Canyons, North Solitary Island, New South Wales.
A Smooth Stingray at The Cottonfields, Bowen Island, Jervis Bay, New South Wales.
The Smooth Stingray is the largest of all Australian stingrays (Family Dasyatidae). It grows to 4.3 m in length, 2 m disc width and a weight of 350 kg.
This species looks very similar to the Black Stingray. They are both dark above, pale below and have a whip-like tail. The Smooth Stingray usually has irregular rows of small white spots on the upper surface beside the head and no thorn-like denticles along the dorsal midline of the disc. The Black Stingray lacks white spots but does have thorn-like denticles along the dorsal midline of the disc.
The Smooth Stingray also has a relatively short tail, less than 1.2 times the disc length. This gives the fish its species name, brevicaudata, which comes from the Latin brevis, meaning short, and cauda meaning tail.
The Smooth Stingray is not aggressive and is easily observed by divers. It usually has one venomous spine (the sting) halfway along the tail which is capable of inflicting severe or potentially fatal wounds. This species is sometimes observed raising its tail above its back like a scorpion.
The Smooth Stingray is a bottom-dwelling species which is recorded from temperate waters of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In Australia it occurs from southern Queensland, around the south of the country and north to the central coast of Western Australia. It lives in coastal waters and estuaries from shallow water down to about 170 m.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
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