Short-tailed river stingray | |
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Juvenile | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Chondrichthyes |
Subclass: | Elasmobranchii |
Superorder: | Batoidea |
Order: | Myliobatiformes |
Family: | Potamotrygonidae |
Genus: | Potamotrygon |
Species: | P. brachyura
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Binomial name | |
Potamotrygon brachyura (Günther, 1880)
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The short-tailed river stingray (Potamotrygon brachyura) is a species of river stingray (family Potamotrygonidae) native to the Río de la Plata Basin in South America.[2][3] It is sometimes known as the giant freshwater stingray,[1] but this name is typically used for the southeast Asian Urogymnus polylepis.
Growing to a disc diameter of about 1.9 m (6.2 ft) and a weight of 220 kg (490 lb), with unconfirmed records of even larger specimens,[4] the short-tailed river stingray is the largest freshwater species in its family[3] and one of the heaviest strict freshwater fish in South America, only matched by the arapaima (Arapaima) and piraíba catfish (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum).[5] The primary threat to the short-tailed river stingray is fishing for food and as a game fish (if not released), but it is also under pressure from habitat loss and occasionally caught for aquaria.[1][5][6]