Spotted Eagle Ray

Brought to you by wikipedia, MarineBio, youtube, Associated Press, Florida Museum of Natural History, and of course Google.
The spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus narinari, Euphrasen (1790), or bonnet ray, is a cartilaginous fish found in shallow coastal waters by coral reefs and bays, in depths down to 80 meters (260 feet). Spotted eagle rays can weigh 500 pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and use the venomous barb at the end of their tail only for defense.

For $110 you can own your very own spotted eagle ray jaw.

Image originally uploaded by Florida Museum of Natural History © George Burgess

Some may confuse the spotted eagle ray with the bullnose ray. Which is a little ridiculous given the bullnose ray's dorsal fin origin, which is significantly closer to the level of the rear margins of the pelvic fins than the spotted eagle ray's dorsal fin origin. What's even more ridiculous is that the bullnose ray isn't even found in the Gulf of Mexico or the majority of the Caribbean Sea.

The spotted eagle ray is distributed worldwide in tropical and warm temperate waters, even off the coast of Belize. (Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, Atlantic Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific west coast of the Americas).


Also called papagaio (Portuguese), it is listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

Also called the spotted whipray, they frequently form large schools during the non-breeding season.

Also called fai manu in Samoan, these wonders of the world are identified by the numerous white ringed spots on their blue dorsal surface.

Also called amak-e-khaldar in Farsi, they were originally described in the systematic sense in 1790 .