Smooth Stingray

About

The largest of all stingrays, this species is reasonably common in shallow coastal waters. Although it may be seen gliding through the shallows, it often remains buried in the sand off beachesThis species is dark on top and light underneath and is smooth with a short tail featuring a venomous spine that is serated and the remainder of the tail is armed with large tubercles and thorns.Locally this is a very common species along the beachfront often burried in the sand and hard to see particually around the shallow reefs and behind the island.Warning:The large serrated spine on the tail is venomous. Smooth Stingrays are potentially very dangerous to humans due to their large size, and have been responsible for very painful injuries and at least one death in Australia

Size

Can grow up to 4.3 meters long head to tail tip and around 2 meters wide weights of around 350kgs. Whilst smaller sizes are more common

Habitat

Silty or sandy areas in harbours, shallow coastal bays, estuaries, large inlets, coastal reefs and offshore islands

Distribution

Widespread in temperate waters of southern Australia, from about Maroochydore in southern Queensland, to Shark Bay, Western Australia, including Tasmania

Gallery

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Local Sightings

2 recorded sightings in and around the area.

References & citations (3)

1. Bray, D.J. 2018, Bathytoshia brevicaudata in Fishes of Australia (accessed 2021-09-22 14:03:33)
2. The Atlas of Living Australia (accessed 2021-09-22 14:03:33)
3. Duffy, C.A.J., Paul, L.J. & Chin, A. 2016. Bathytoshia brevicaudata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T41796A68618154 (accessed 2021-09-22 14:03:33)