Painted maskray

Masks stingrays ( Neotrygon leylandi )

The mask stingrays ( Neotrygon leylandi, Syn: Dasyatis leylandi ) is a Stechrochenart and lives off the coasts of northern Australia and southern coasts of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Taxonomy

The species seems to divide into two distinct populations. In the distribution area west of the Torres Strait found no or a light mottling, color and disc shape there vary also. East of the Torres Strait, however, prevails a dark mottling.

Features

The mask stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc and reaches widths of about 30 cm in females, about 25 cm in males.

Way of life

The Ray lives near the coast in shallow water, but also at depths up to 75 m. There he hunts mainly crustaceans, occasionally annelids, True bonefish and molluscs. He is ovoviviparous with litters of one to two pups that have a slice width from nine to eleven centimeters at birth.

He is regularly introduced by Australian fishermen as bycatch and thrown back into the sea. Whether the animals survive, is not known. Generally its habitat is heavily fished, but there are also protected refuges, such as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in the eastern area of ​​distribution. The IUCN classifies him provisionally, on condition that it is (see taxonomy), as NT ( Near Threatened ) only to a single type.