Spotted Eagle Ray

The spotted eagle ray is a cartilaginous fish of the eagle ray family, Myliobatidae. Binomial name of Spotted Eagle Ray is Aetobatus narinari. It can be found globally in tropical regions, including the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, off the coast of West Africa, the Indian Ocean, Oceania, and on both coasts of the Americas at depths down to about 80 meters (262 ft). Spotted eagle rays are beautiful creatures with distinct markings that differ from other rays.

The main body is roughly a diamond-shaped disk, with spots covering the dorsal surface in varying colors of white, yellow and green (McClane, 1978).  The ventral surface is white and the tail is black, which sometimes can be twice the length of the disk.  The body is normally thicker than other rays. The spotted eagle ray possesses only one series of teeth in each jaw which are relatively broad and flat in nature.

Spotted eagle rays are elegant and graceful swimmers. The rays are most commonly seen alone, but occasionally swim in groups. A schooling species, several spotted eagle rays will group together to form a large school when swimming in the open water column, where they will travel great distances together. Rays are ovoviviparous, the female retaining the eggs then releasing the young as miniature versions of the parent.

Spotted eagle rays are predators, and the majority of their diet consists of gastropods, mollusks and crabs (Schluessel et al., 2010).  They also eat shrimp, octopus, worms and small fish (MarineBio).

Scientific classification/facts of Spotted Eagle Ray:

Kingdom:         Animalia

Phylum:            Chordata

Class:   Chondrichthyes

Order:  Myliobatiformes

Family: Myliobatidae

Genus:  Aetobatus

Species:            A. narinari