Southern Stingray

ocean · self-defense · tropical waters

Flat diamond shape. Southern stingrays have a wide, flat body shaped like a diamond, which helps them blend in and hide on the sandy ocean floor.

Home in the Atlantic. These rays live in warm tropical and subtropical waters of the Western Atlantic Ocean, ranging from New Jersey all the way down to southern Brazil.

Venomous tail barb. The stingray's tail has a sharp, jagged barb covered in poisonous mucus that it uses only to protect itself when threatened.

Brown and white colors. Their backs are muddy brown, olive, or grey to camouflage on the ocean bottom, while their bellies are white.

Bottom dweller. Southern stingrays spend most of their time gliding along the sandy seafloor hunting for small prey like crustaceans and mollusks.