The Bennett's stingray or frilltailed stingray (Dasyatis bennetti, often misspelled benetti or bennettii) is a little-known species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of stingray

Myliobatiformes

Myliobatiformes is one of the four orders of batoids, cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They were formerly included in the order Rajiformes, but more recent phylogenetic studies have shown that the myliobatiforms are a monophyletic group, and that its more derived members evolved their...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Dasyatidae, with a wide but ill-defined distribution in the Indian

Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

 and Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

s. This species is characterized by a rhomboid, yellow-brown pectoral fin disc with a fairly long snout, and an extremely long tail with a correspondingly long ventral fin fold. It measures up to 50 cm (19.7 in) across. It feeds on fish, and is aplacental viviparous. It is likely caught by demersal fisheries, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) does not yet have sufficient information to assess its conservation status.

Taxonomy

German biologists Johannes Peter Müller

Johannes Peter Müller

Johannes Peter Müller , was a German physiologist, comparative anatomist, and ichthyologist not only known for his discoveries but also for his ability to synthesize knowledge.-Early years and education:...

 and Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle

Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle

Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle was a German physician, pathologist and anatomist. He is credited with the discovery of the loop of Henle in the kidney. His essay "On Miasma and Contagia" was an early argument for the germ theory of disease...

 described the Bennett's stingray as Trygon bennettii in their 1839–1841 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. They referenced three specimens as the species syntype

Syntype

In biological nomenclature, a syntype is a term used to indicate a specimen with a special status.In zoological nomenclature, a syntype is defined as "Each specimen of a type series from which neither a holotype nor a lectotype has been designated [Arts. 72.1.2, 73.2, 74]. The syntypes...

s: only the one from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 remains, while another from Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 and a third of unknown provenance have been lost. Later authors synonymized

Synonym (taxonomy)

In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

 the genus Trygon with Dasyatis.

Distribution and habitat

The range of the Bennett's stingray is somewhat uncertain due to confusion with other species. It is a bottom-dweller that occurs in the coastal waters of the Indo-Pacific

Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific is a biogeographic region of the Earth's seas, comprising the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the seas connecting the two in the general area of Indonesia...

 region, from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, through Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

, to southern China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and perhaps the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

; it seems to be most common in the northwestern Pacific. This species has also been reported from Vanuatu

Vanuatu

Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...

 and New Caledonia

New Caledonia

New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

; the single historical record from Trinidad may be a misidentification. It has been known to enter fresh water

Fresh Water

Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...

, including the Perak River

Perak River

Perak River is the second longest river in Peninsular Malaysia after Pahang River in Pahang, Malaysia. A number of towns are on the banks of the river including the royal town of Kuala Kangsar...

 in peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...

 and the Indragiri River

Indragiri River

The Indragiri River is a river in Sumatra, in the Indonesian province of Riau. It is formed from the union of the Ombilin River and the Sinamar River, and empties into the Strait of Malacca....

 in Sumatra

Sumatra

Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...

.

Description

The Bennett's stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc almost as wide as long, with straight leading margins converging on a triangular, moderately protruding snout. The trailing margins of the disc are convex. There are 31 upper and 33 lower tooth rows, and 3 or 5 papillae across the floor of the mouth. The tail is whip-like and can measure three times the length of the disc, proportionately longer than any other North Pacific Dasyatis species. There is a stinging spine on the upper surface of the tail, and a fin fold underneath measuring 60–67% the disc width. Young individuals have small dermal denticles in the middle of the back, whereas adults have a row of tubercles along the midline of the back and tiny thorns covering the tail. The coloration is yellowish brown above, becoming darker on the tail fold, and light below. This species attains a disc width of 50 cm (19.7 in) and a total length of 1.3 m (4.3 ft).

Biology and ecology

There is little information on the natural history of the Bennett's stingray. It preys on fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

, and is aplacental viviparous like other stingrays.

Human interactions

The Bennett's stingray is susceptible to bottom trawl and net

Fishing net

A fishing net or fishnet is a net that is used for fishing. Fishing nets are meshes usually formed by knotting a relatively thin thread. Modern nets are usually made of artificial polyamides like nylon, although nets of organic polyamides such as wool or silk thread were common until recently and...

 gear and probably caught by fisheries

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

 within its range, which include intensive, targeted ray fisheries off Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, and elsewhere. However, no specific data are available and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed this species under Data Deficient

Data Deficient

Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN, other agencies, and individuals to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made...

.