Species profile
Southern Stingray
Hypanus americanus
At a glance
Southern Stingray (Hypanus americanus) is an IUCN Near Threatened shark or ray present across the CatchRules coverage area but without species-specific bag, size, or season rules tracked in our regulatory dataset.
Confirmed by 611 research-grade iNaturalist observations, with Florida, North Carolina, and Texas the top jurisdictions by observation count.
Notable details
- Females can reach a disc width of nearly 5 feet — almost double the size of males.
- They bury in sand with only eyes exposed to ambush crabs, worms, and mollusks.
- At Grand Cayman's Stingray City, wild rays have been hand-fed by snorkelers for decades.
- Electroreceptors in the snout detect faint electrical fields of animals buried in sediment.
- Feeds primarily on bivalves, worms, shrimp, and small fish excavated from sandy bottoms.
Where Southern Stingray are seen
Background
The southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) is a whiptail stingray found in tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to southern Brazil. It has a flat, diamond-shaped disc, with a mud brown, olive, and grey dorsal surface and white underbelly (ventral surface). The barb on its tail is serrated and covered in a venomous mucous, used for self-defense.
Background excerpt adapted from Wikipedia's Southern Stingray article (CC BY-SA). Visit Wikipedia for the full entry.
Other sharks & rays on CatchRules
Photo credit: iNaturalist / Wikipedia. Identification reference only — verify regulations with the issuing wildlife agency before retaining a catch.