General Description
Head thick, with a broad margin and a fleshy lobe around the snout continuous with the wings; disc short, broad, with smooth skin and a deep notch beside the eye; dorsal-fin origin near rear tips of pelvic fins; tail long, whip-like with a venomous spine just behind the small dorsal fin. Upperside greenish to yellowish-brown with pale bluish blotches or bands, underside pale. To 1.6 m.
Biology
These rays feed on small fishes and invertebrates such as crabs, molluscs and polychaete worms. Females give birth to live young in the summer. On average there are six young per breeding cycle but numbers vary from 2 to 20. Until 2014 the Southern Eagle Ray was called Myliobatis australis in Australia.
Distribution
New Zealand, Norfolk Island, southern Australia from Moreton Bay (Queensland) to Shark Bay (Western Australia)
Habitat
Common inshore near beaches, sandy shoals and sand flats, to depth of 130 m.
More Information
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Animal Type
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Animal SubType
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Brief Id
A large brownish, greyish, greenish or yellowish eagle ray with a variable pattern of greyish-blue spots and bars, and a venomous spine on the whip-like tail.
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Maximum Size
1.6 m
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Habitats
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Diet
Carnivore
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Hazards
Not usually considered dangerous to humans, but venomous spine on tail can cause injury.
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Endemicity
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Commercial
No
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Conservation Statuses
CITES: Not listed, FFG Threatened List: Not listed, EPBC Act 1999: Not listed, IUCN Red List: Least Concern
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Depths
Shallow (1-30 m), Deep ( > 30 m)
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Water Column Locations
On or near seafloor
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Taxon Name
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Scientific Author
Hector, 1877
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Common Name
Southern Eagle Ray
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Kingdom
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Phylum
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Subphylum
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Superclass
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Class
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Subclass
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Superorder
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Order
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Family
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Genus
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Species Name
tenuicaudatus
