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Porcupine Ray

The porcupine ray is appropriately named for its prickly appearance. The spikes on its back serve as the ray’s armor, as it lacks the venomous barb most stingray species have. Sightings of this ray are uncommon, so consider yourself lucky if one crosses your path!

 

The porcupine ray can be found in the Indo-West Pacific Oceans and in tropical West Africa. They spend most of their time on sandy seafloors, in caves, and around coral reefs, and occasionally hang out in lagoons. The porcupine ray grows to a maximum length of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet). Its body is flattened into an oval-shaped disc with a rounded snout, a brown or gray back, and a white ventral surface below.  Porcupine rays forage for prey including worms, shrimp, crabs, and bivalves. Little is known about this ray due to their rarity.

 

 

The primary threats to the porcupine ray are overfishing, climate change, and habitat loss – which have led to it being listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. The porcupine ray is caught intentionally and as bycatch by a wide range of coastal fisheries. In some areas of the world, it is caught for its meat and high-value skin. Its preference for shallow coastal waters increases its susceptibility to being captured.

 

 

Stopping overfishing and destructive fishing practices is essential to helping ocean species recover from intense fishing pressure. Oceana is working around the world to reduce overfishing and bycatch, protect threatened marine wildlife, and safeguard vital ocean habitats. We’re also helping advance the global goal of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. 

 

 

  • Theiss SM, Kyne PM, and Chisholm LA. (2010) Distribution of the porcupine ray ‘Urogymnus asperrimus‘ (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) in Australian waters, with new records from Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum -Nature 55: 101-101. ISSN 0079-8835.
  •  O’Shea OR, Thums M, van Keulen M, Kempster RM, and Meekan MG. (2013) Dietary partitioning by five sympatric species of stingray (Dasyatidae) on coral reefs. Journal of Fish Biology, 82: 1805-1820. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12104

 

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