Rays
Southern Stingray
Hypanus americanus · Cartilaginous fish, family Dasyatidae
The southern stingray is Caribbean sand made animate: a gray-brown diamond that erupts from an apparently empty bottom, wingtips rippling, whip tail trailing, a cloud of silt hanging where it lay. Watch a flat for ten minutes and its excavation pits reveal a workaday hunter that spends its life reading the sediment for buried shellfish. At Grand Cayman's sandbar the species runs a second career greeting visitors by the dozen, velvet wings brushing snorkelers in water hip-deep, an interaction refined by rules on feeding and handling. In its wild mode it is wary, quick, and best appreciated from a body length away.
أين ومتى تراها
"مقيم" تعني أن معظم الغطسات في هذه الوجهة ستُمكّنك من مشاهدتها؛ "موسمي" تعني أنها متواجدة بشكل موثوق خلال الأشهر المذكورة؛ أي شيء آخر فهو مكسب غير متوقع، وليس شيئًا يُعتمد عليه في التخطيط.
| الوجهة | الموثوقية | الأشهر | ملاحظات |
|---|---|---|---|
| BonaireBonaire | Resident: seen on most dives | طوال العام | |
| Grand CaymanCayman Islands | Resident: seen on most dives | طوال العام | |
| Belize Barrier ReefBelize | Resident: seen on most dives | طوال العام | |
| Florida KeysUnited States | Occasional | طوال العام |
أفضل شهر، في لمحة
| الشهر | وجهات موثوقة |
|---|---|
| January | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| February | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| March | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| April | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| May | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| June | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| July | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| August | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| September | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| October | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| November | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
| December | Bonaire · Grand Cayman · Belize Barrier Reef · Florida Keys |
فهمها
الموئل: Sand flats, lagoons, and seagrass beds; buries itself to the eyes between foraging bouts
النطاق: Western Atlantic from the mid-US coast through the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean to southern Brazil
السلوك: A diamond-shaped bottom forager that leaves feeding pits across every Caribbean sand flat, usually trailed by a jack or snapper hoping for leftovers. Ordinarily retiring: the famous boldness at Grand Cayman's Stingray City is learned behavior from decades of fishermen's scraps, now managed as a wildlife attraction.
النظام الغذائي: Worms, crustaceans, and small fish excavated from sand with jets of water and flapping wings
الحجم: عادةً حوالي 1.0 m; موثَّق حتى عمق 1.5 m (disc width; large females dwarf males).
كيف تتصرف في حضوره
At interaction sites follow staff handling rules and keep feeding to guides; on ordinary dives, don't hover directly over a buried ray, don't dig them out, and give feeding animals space to work.
الحفاظ على البيئة البحرية
Near Threatened; inshore fishing and habitat loss press on it outside protected areas, while interaction-site populations are monitored for the effects of feeding and handling.
المواقع المعروفة بها
المواقع المُبرزة رسَّمها محرّرونا لهذا النوع؛ والأرقام هي سجلات ظهور GBIF المُسجَّلة في نطاق نحو 5 كم من الموقع منذ عام 1990.
شاهد
من القنوات الرسمية
Wildlife of Monterey | New film in our auditorium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
Live Aviary Cam | Monterey Bay Aquarium
مقاطع الفيديو روابط مُضمَّنة لقنوات أصحابها. لا نستضيف شيئًا ونُشير إلى المصدر في كل الأحوال.