Masked stingray
| Masked stingray | ||||||||||||
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Masked stingray ( Neotrygon leylandi ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Neotrygon leylandi | ||||||||||||
| ( Last , 1987) |
The masked stingray ( Neotrygon leylandi , Syn .: Dasyatis leylandi ) is a species of stingray and lives off the coasts of northern Australia and the southern coasts of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea .
Taxonomy
The species appears to divide into two different populations. In the distribution area west of Torres-Straße there is no or only light spots, the basic color and shape of the pane also vary there. On the other hand, there is a dark patch to the east of Torres Street.
features
The masked stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc and reaches widths of around 30 cm in females and around 25 cm in males.
Way of life
The ray lives close to the coast in shallow water, but also at depths of up to 75 m. There he mainly hunts crustaceans , occasionally annelids , real bony fish and mollusks . It is ovoviviparous with litters of one to two young animals that are nine to eleven centimeters wide at birth.
It is regularly brought in as bycatch by Australian fishermen and thrown back into the sea. It is not known whether the animals survive this. In general, its habitat is heavily fished, but there are also protected retreat areas, such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in the eastern range. The IUCN provisionally classifies it as NT (low endangered) , provided that it is only a single species (see taxonomy) .
Web links
- Masked stingray on Fishbase.org (English)
- Masked stingray on the IUCN Red List