Read the article with FishingTheSpot: the sting ray fish
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See the fishing tripsThe Sting Ray fish
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36 cm
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The Sting Ray fish belongs to the Dasyatidae family. The total length of this line is generally greater than 1 m, with a weight of 15 to 20 kg. The maximum known length is 2.50 m. The maximum lifespan is 20 years. Breeding usually takes place in summer. The female gives birth to 4 to 9 young. It can be fished all year round.
The body of the sting ray is flattened, diamond-shaped, pointed at the front, with large pectoral fins: it is as wide as it is long. The tail, representing 60% of the total length, looks like a whip and, at one third of its base, it has a serrated spine, connected to venomous glands under the skin. The dorsal surface is bluish grey or reddish-grey in color, sometimes with white spots. This back is smooth, without tubers. The ventral side is clear. The sting ray has no dorsal fin or caudal fin and its pelvic fins are very small. The eyes are located on the dorsal surface while the mouth, nostrils and gill slits (five slits on each side) are on the ventral surface. The eyes are prominent, which gives him a very wide field of vision. Next to the eyes, an inhalant valve, called a spiracle, carries water into the gills. The mouth is located quite far back. Teeth are numerous and small, pointed in males and molar-shaped in females. The tail acts as a simple rudder and is not used for movement. It is done by the large pectoral fins, by beating. These fins are also used for burying in sand.
The Sting ray lifestyle
The sting ray feeds on crabs, shrimps and other crustaceans living on the bottom but also on small flatfish. She hunts on the lookout, buries herself in the sand, then immobilizes her prey, and her jaw and teeth crush her. Young people only feed on crustaceans.
Fertilization is internal. The male's pelvic fins are transformed into copulating appendages, called pterygopods, with hooks that grip the female during mating. Once the sperm transfer is completed, the male secretes another substance that closes the female's genital opening: no further mating can take place. The sting ray is ovoviviparous: the embryo develops first from the egg's reserves, then it is fed by a fluid secretion from the uterine papillae. Along the coasts, the female gives birth to 4 to 9 young in summer, after 4 months of gestation. The young measure about ten centimeters at birth.
The Sting ray habitat
It is a coastal species that does not exceed 100 m in depth. It is rather frequent between 5 and 60 m. It is found on sandy or muddy sandy bottoms, but also in estuaries, preferably in calm and sheltered waters.
Since she lives on a soft bottom, she has developed a special breathing system: she absorbs water through her vents on her head and throws it out through the gill slits on the ventral surface. This prevents it from "silting up".
It can be found all around the Mediterranean Sea and along the coasts of the Eastern Atlantic, from the North Sea to the Gulf of Guinea, including around the main islands of this area.
The Sting Ray angling
It is fished to support, to pose, to drift in a lively way and mainly to surfcasting. For the latter option, prefer a bulky bait such as herring, mackerel, sardine, pout, squid, crab or squid.
