Stingeree

This stingeree was captured on camera during an AUV survey in the Freycinet Marine Park in June 2011. Stingerees are a family of rays within the order Myliobatiformes (commonly known as stingrays). They are relatively small compared to some of their cousins, typically measuring between 15-80 centimetres in length. They live on the bottom in sandy habitats on the shelf and upper regions of the continental slope, where they eat a variety of invertebrates, crustaceans and small fish that they trap beneath them and manoeuvre into their mouth by flexing their disc flaps. Half buried in sand, they are often very difficult to see, and divers, swimmers and snorkelers should be wary of the two venomous spines on the end of their tails.