Dasyatis americana
southern atlantic stingray
(Also: southern stingray)

The Southern Stingray has been found in the Nearctic waters as far north as New Jersey, throughout the Caribbean, and in Neotropic waters as far south as coastal central South America. The Southern Stingray is most abundant, however, in Florida and the Bahamas (http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1996).

Dasyatis americana is a bottom dweller. It lives in shallow bays, sounds, and in-shore waters on sandy bottoms. It usually remains away from walls and large reefs where it is difficult for it to feed (http://www.Cayman.org:80/fauna/Stingray.htm, 1966).

Southern Stingrays are almost completely flat. The entire body consists of a disc-shaped body with no distinct head. At the end of the body is a long whip-like tail that contains one or more razor-sharp serrated barbs.

The eyes and unusually large spiracles are on top of the ill-defined head, and the mouth and gill slits are on the underside. The sides of the Southern Stingray consist of large pectoral fins, which are mistakenly, yet quite commonly, called "wings." Dasyatis americana has no dorsal or caudal fin. The ventral surface of the ray is always white with the top ranging from khaki to dark brown to slate gray.

One of the distinct features to the class Chondrichthyes is that the entire endoskeleton is made of cartilage. Bone is completley absent from the entire class. This is an interesting fact, espacially since the ancestors of the Chondrichthyes had well-developed bone.

Females are the larger of the two sexes, with a maximum width of six feet across. The average female, however, is considerably smaller. The male adult can have as little as a two foot fin-span (http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1966; http://www.Cayman.org:80/fauna/stingray.htm, 1966; Hickman and Roberts, 1995.)

Dasyatis americana has a poorly developed social system. Most move actively through their environments. An exception to this is the two "Stingray City" tourist attractions in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, where large groups of stingrays remain in the same spot because they get fed daily. Little is known about any social structure within these aggregations.

The Southern Stingray's main diet consists of crabs, shell fish, marine worms, conch, shrimp, and occasionally small fish.

The mouth of the Southern Stingray is hidden on the flat underside, and it feeds by slowly grazing the sand of the ocean floor. With the eyes on top side of the ray, it relies on highly developed electro-receptors combined with an acute sense of smell and touch. After the prey is sensed, the ray covers it with its body. While feeding, the ray completely buries itself in the sand. Usually, during this process, only the eyes and long tail are exposed. People commonly mistake this feeding stage as a stage of sleep (http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1966; http://www.Cayman.org:80/fauna/stingray.htm, 1966).

The Southern Stingray has the ability to "sting" humans, and for this reason it is potentially dangerous. When stepped upon, the ray lashes its tail up and attempts to drive it into the intruder as a self-defense mechanism. The spines on the stingray's tail cut and tear the flesh, and the ray also injects a poison. Although not life threatening, the poison is a protein that can cause depressed respiration. The stings can be extremely painful. More serious stings result from the stingray than from any other species of fish (http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1996; http://www.Caymans.org:80/fauna/Stingray.htm, 1996).

Until 1987 the species was mostly ignored. Since then, the stingray has become a major tourist attraction. "Stingray City", located a few miles off Grand Cayman of the Cayman Islands, is a main attraction. In 1996, a new and similar site opened in the Bahamas. Now a major part of the tourism industry revolves around visiting these creatures (http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~ Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1996).

Dasyatis americana is plentiful

The Southern Stingray is often mistaken as an aggressively dangerous animal. This misconception comes from a lack of knowledge of the ray's anatomy and behavior. Dasyatis americana does have razor-sharp serrated barbs located at the base of the tail. It does contain a venom that can cause pain and swelling on contact. However, rays are extremely unagressive creatures and they do not attack anything with their tail. It is used soley as a defense mechanism. When swimming, stingrays are not even capable of directing their tail and are relatively defenseless. It is a very poor deterrent against the ray's main predator, the shark, to which it is closely related.

Many native people of the Polynesia, Malaysia, Central America, and Africa have used the spines of stingrays to make spears and knives. In many cases these people would cut off the entire tail to be used as a deadly whip (http://www.nwf,org.80/nwf/lib/rr/sting97.html, 1997; http://www.Caymans.com:8080/~Caymans/Stingray_City.html, 1996; http://www.Cayman.org:80/fauna/Stingray.htm, 1996).