Deepwater stingray

Deepwater stingray
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Chondrichthyes
Subclass:	Elasmobranchii
Superorder:	Batoidea
Order:	Myliobatiformes
Suborder:	Myliobatoidei
Superfamily:	Urolophoidea
Family:	Plesiobatidae K. Nishida, 1990
Genus:	Plesiobatis K. Nishida, 1990
Species:	P. daviesi
Binomial name
Plesiobatis daviesi (J. H. Wallace, 1967)
Range of the deepwater stingray[2]
Synonyms
Urolophus marmoratus Chu, Hu & Li, 1981 Urotrygon daviesi J. H. Wallace, 1967

The deepwater stingray or giant stingaree (Plesiobatis daviesi) is a species of stingray and the sole member of the family Plesiobatidae. It is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific, typically over fine sediments on the upper continental slope at depths of 275–680 m (900–2,230 ft). This species reaches 2.7 m (8.9 ft) in length and 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in width. It has an oval pectoral fin disc with a long, flexible, broad-angled snout. Most of the entire latter half of its tail supports a distinctively long, slender, leaf-shaped caudal fin. Its coloration is dark above and white below, and its skin is almost completely covered by tiny dermal denticles.

Preying on crustaceans, cephalopods, and bony fishes, the deepwater stingray may hunt both on the sea floor and well above it in open water. It is likely aplacental viviparous, with the mother supplying her gestating young with histotroph ("uterine milk"). Captured rays merit caution due to their long, venomous stingers. This species is taken by deepwater commercial fisheries, but in numbers too small to significantly threaten its population. Therefore, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed it as Least Concern.