The smalleye stingray is a very strange creature. With a wingspan of more than seven feet and weighing up to 790 pounds, it is an enormous animal. It is, in fact, the largest oceanic stingray on earth. It is so named because it has eyes roughly the size of raisins. Although they are incredibly interesting, little is known about them. But now, the world’s first study has been published in the journal PeerJ, and it reveals a lot of interesting stuff.
Smalleye stingrays are a difficult thing to study—before the turn of the century, there were only a handful of actual live sightings, but in the last few decades, with the help of so-called citizen scientists, researchers have managed to find and document more than 70 individuals off the coast of Mozambique. Although they’re considered to be data deficient by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the smalleye stingray is thought to be endangered because finding them has proven to be exceedingly difficult. According to researchers, they give birth to one pup and take years to reproduce.
Like many other animals, the smalleye stingray has unique markings in the form of the pattern of spots on their backs. While most stingrays tend to sit on or near the ocean floor—something many surfers have had the displeasure of experiencing—smalleyes swim in the middle of the water column. The rays do have venomous barbs, but like the manta ray, they appear to be “quite gentle and curious.”
Read more about the smalleye stingray over at National Geographic.
