Dasyatis sabina
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Chondrichthyes (Cartilaginous Fishes)
Myliobatiformes (Stingrays)
Dasyatidae (Whiptail Stingrays)
Dasyatis
Dasyatis sabina (Atlantic Stingray)
Description
This species account was compiled from
McEachran & Fechhelm (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Spade-shaped disc; relatively long snout; long, slender, whip-like tail; preorbital length 25-27% of disc width; snout angle 107°-122°; anterior margin of disc concave; outer corners of disc broadly rounded; posterior margin moderately convex; mouth arched; upper jaw slightly projecting at symphysis; lower jaw slightly indented at symphysis; floor of mouth with transverse row of three stout papillae; 28-36 tooth rows in upper jaw; teeth of juveniles and females with quadrangular bases and flat to slightly rounded cusps; teeth of mature males with quadrangular bases and long, slender, conical cusps; anterior margin of pelvic fin straight; outer corner of pelvic fin abruptly rounded; posterior margin evenly convex; tail with low, dorsal, fleshy ridge; lower surface of tail with fold; denticles on head between orbits and spiracles; tubercles or thorns along dorsal midline and on scapular region
Brown to yellowish brown dorsally, occasionally with dark stripe along midline; whitish ventrally, occasionally with a darker margin
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Chesapeake Bay to southern Florida and the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Generally captured from the shoreline to 20 m; occurs in freshwater in the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, and St. John's River, Florida
Biology
Polychaetes, crustaceans, and bony fishes
Maximum known size is 458-610 mm DW
Litters range from one to three young; females mature at 160-176 mm DW; young are 100 mm DW at birth
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Gunter 1945
Bigelow and Schroeder 1953a
Sage et al. 1972
Hoese and Moore 1977
Schwartz and Dahlberg 1978
Snelson and Williams 1981
Schmid et al. 1988
Comments On Dasyatis sabina