Southern stingray

Photo: Enzo Muller · © all rights reserved

Southern stingrays are benthic foragers that undulate across sandy patches adjacent to reef, using electroreception to locate buried molluscs, worms, and crustaceans which they excavate with a powerful jet of water from their spiracles. They often bury themselves in sand with only their eyes and spiracles visible, and large females can exceed 1.5 metres in disc width. Their wing-like pectoral fins disturb the sand as they feed, creating feeding pits that attract following fish including bar jacks and yellowhead wrasse that snap up exposed prey.