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Pelagic Stingray | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Pelagic Stingray

Pteroplatytrygon violacea

ChondrichthyesOpen ocean, in the upper water column of tropical and warm-temperate seasLeast Concern

Field profile

The pelagic stingray is a small, dark purple-brown ray with a wedge-shaped disc under a metre wide. Unlike its bottom-dwelling relatives it lives in open water, and it is caught in large numbers as bycatch on pelagic longlines.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-04-15

Pelagic Stingray

One stingray never touches the bottom

Stingrays are defined in most people's minds by lying buried in sand. The pelagic stingray abandoned that entirely, living in the open water column far offshore, and its body has been reshaped accordingly.

Read with evidence →