Almost every stingray is a bottom animal, flattened for lying on sediment with eyes on top and mouth beneath. The pelagic stingray broke with that pattern. It occupies the upper few hundred metres of open ocean, well off the shelf, and does not rest on the seabed.
The anatomy follows the habit. The disc is more wedge-shaped and thicker than that of a bottom ray, the coloration is uniformly dark above and below rather than countershaded pale, and the tail spine is proportionately long. Diet shifts too, towards jellyfish, squid, and small fishes taken in midwater rather than invertebrates dug from sand.
Living in open water puts it directly in the path of longline gear set for tuna and swordfish. The species is caught in very large numbers as bycatch, though it is small, quick to mature and widespread, which is why it remains assessed as Least Concern despite that pressure.