Spotted Eagle Ray

• comportamientoIt can leap clear of the water, and on rare occasions has been documented landing accidentally on boats.
• It leaps clear of the water: full jumps several metres high have been documented, and the most widely accepted explanation is that they serve to shed parasites or to escape predators, although the behaviour is still debated.
• Its snout works like a shovel: it digs into the sand in search of buried bivalves, which it crushes with flattened dental plates able to break thick shells.
• The pattern of white spots is unique to each individual, like a fingerprint, and researchers use it to identify particular animals without having to tag them.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - cartilaginous skeleton (fish)

Habitat and environment

Reefs, bays, estuaries and tropical and subtropical coastal waters in every ocean

Birth weight

17-36 cm disc width at birth

Size at birth

17-36 cm disc width at birth; it is ovoviviparous

Sexual maturity

5 years

Gestation / incubation

12 months of gestation

Litter / clutch size

3 live young

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (es): Aetobatus narinari

Best time: All year round in shallow tropical waters; in the Caribbean and the Indo-Pacific it is often seen over sandy bottoms and in mangrove channels.