29.1 Manta birostris: 235 em wide male (Algoa Bay).
tirely out of the water and landing with a slap audible for
kilometres. Inshore and sometimes far out to sea. Occasionally harpooned for "sport", but not easily landed, towing boats for miles and sometimes leaping onto them.
Sometimes foul anchor lines with their prehensile cephalic
fins.
Genus Mobula Rafinesque, 1810
Several species, 1 in our area.
Devilray
29.2 Mobula diabolus
(Shaw, 1804)
Duiwelrog
Raja diabolus Shaw, 1804: 291 (India). Mobula kuhlii: Barnard, 1925:
86*. Mobula diabolus: Smith, SFSA No. 87*; Wallace, 1967: 11*; Hulley,
1972: 2* .
T h '
69-102
Sk'
h
eet mmute, 80-106 rows. m smoot.
29.2 Mobula diabolus: 111 em wide male (Natal).
30: DASYATIDAE(STINGRAYS)
Colour grey-brown to blue-black above , white below.
Maximum width about 178 cm, weight to 52 kg. Wide ranging in Indian Ocean and western Pacific; south to Port
Alfred, but common only from Durban northwards. Generally in schools, leaping high out of the water; often fouled
in shark nets. Name provisional.
Stingrays
Family No. 30: DASYATIDAE
by L.J.V. Campagna
Pylsterte
Head, body and pectoral fins forming a rounded or
angular pectoral disc, about 1-2 times as wide as long. Snout
broadly to narrowly angular or rounded, length less than
half disc width. Head in front of spiracles not marked off
from rest of disc. Five pairs of gill openings on underside of
disc. Moderately numerous small blunt or cuspidate teeth in
each jaw. Tail moderately slender to very slender, whiplike, varying from somewhat shorter than disc to several
times disc length, usually with a large, venomous sting on its
dorsal surface well behind its base . Dorsal and ventral finfolds present or absent.
Small to large batoid fishes, found in all tropical and subtropical oceans. Maximum size of largest species about 4.3
m long or 4 m wide. Most species are commonly found close
inshore, in estuaries, off beaches and off river mouths;
some species occur in freshwater. Many species dangerous,
because of their large size, and large, serrated, venomous
stings; many cases of stingray injuries known, some fatal, in
which the stingray was stepped on or disturbed and drove its
sting into the limbs or body of its human assailant. Stings
135
tirely out of the water and landing with a slap audible for
kilometres. Inshore and sometimes far out to sea. Occasionally harpooned for "sport", but not easily landed, towing boats for miles and sometimes leaping onto them.
Sometimes foul anchor lines with their prehensile cephalic
fins.
Genus Mobula Rafinesque, 1810
Several species, 1 in our area.
Devilray
29.2 Mobula diabolus
(Shaw, 1804)
Duiwelrog
Raja diabolus Shaw, 1804: 291 (India). Mobula kuhlii: Barnard, 1925:
86*. Mobula diabolus: Smith, SFSA No. 87*; Wallace, 1967: 11*; Hulley,
1972: 2* .
T h '
69-102
Sk'
h
eet mmute, 80-106 rows. m smoot.
29.2 Mobula diabolus: 111 em wide male (Natal).
30: DASYATIDAE(STINGRAYS)
Colour grey-brown to blue-black above , white below.
Maximum width about 178 cm, weight to 52 kg. Wide ranging in Indian Ocean and western Pacific; south to Port
Alfred, but common only from Durban northwards. Generally in schools, leaping high out of the water; often fouled
in shark nets. Name provisional.
Stingrays
Family No. 30: DASYATIDAE
by L.J.V. Campagna
Pylsterte
Head, body and pectoral fins forming a rounded or
angular pectoral disc, about 1-2 times as wide as long. Snout
broadly to narrowly angular or rounded, length less than
half disc width. Head in front of spiracles not marked off
from rest of disc. Five pairs of gill openings on underside of
disc. Moderately numerous small blunt or cuspidate teeth in
each jaw. Tail moderately slender to very slender, whiplike, varying from somewhat shorter than disc to several
times disc length, usually with a large, venomous sting on its
dorsal surface well behind its base . Dorsal and ventral finfolds present or absent.
Small to large batoid fishes, found in all tropical and subtropical oceans. Maximum size of largest species about 4.3
m long or 4 m wide. Most species are commonly found close
inshore, in estuaries, off beaches and off river mouths;
some species occur in freshwater. Many species dangerous,
because of their large size, and large, serrated, venomous
stings; many cases of stingray injuries known, some fatal, in
which the stingray was stepped on or disturbed and drove its
sting into the limbs or body of its human assailant. Stings
135