The daisy stingray, ''Fontitrygon margarita'', is a little-known

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

stingray Stingrays are a group of sea Batoidea, rays, a type of cartilaginous fish. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae (sixgill stingray), Plesiobatidae (deepwate ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Dasyatidae, found in shallow waters along the coast of

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. This species typically grows to across and has a rounded

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

disc and (in adults) a wide band of

dermal denticle A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scale (zoology), scales, which can also provide effective Underwater camouflage, camouflage through the us ...

s over its back. It is characterized by a greatly enlarged,

nacre Nacre ( , ), also known as mother-of-pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer. It is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent. Nacre is ...

ous denticle in the middle of its back called a "pearl spine"; this feature is shared with the similar but much smaller

pearl stingray The pearl stingray (''Fontitrygon margaritella'') is a little-known species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found in shallow coastal waters from Mauritania to Angola, though fossils have been found in Portugal. Growing to across, this spe ...

(''F. margaritella''), which has often been confused with this species. The daisy stingray feeds mainly on

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s and exhibits aplacental viviparity, with litters of 1–4 young. Heavily pressured by

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

and possibly

habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, this once-common species is declining and has been assessed as Vulnerable by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN).

Taxonomy

British

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

Albert Günther Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther , also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther (3October 18301February 1914), was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive reptile tax ...

originally described the daisy stingray as ''Trygon margarita'', in his 1870 ''Catalogue of the Fishes in the British Museum''; subsequent authors synonymized the genus ''Trygon'' with ''Dasyatis''.Catalog of Fishes (Online Version)
. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved on January 15, 2010. This species resembles, and is likely closely related to, the pearl stingray and the

Niger stingray The Niger stingray or smooth freshwater stingray (''Fontitrygon garouaensis'') is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, native to rivers in Nigeria and Cameroon. Attaining a width of , this species can be distinguished by its thin, alm ...

(''D. garouaensis''), both also native to West Africa. Numerous scientific accounts of the daisy stingray have been confounded by confusion with the pearl stingray; this confusion dates back to the two West African specimens referenced in Günther's original description. In 1984,

Leonard Compagno Leonard Joseph Victor Compagno (1943-2024) was an international authority on shark taxonomy and the author of many scientific papers and books on the subject, best known of which is his 1984 catalogue of shark species produced for the Food and Agri ...

and Tyson Roberts identified one of them as a pearl stingray and designated the other as the

lectotype In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes ...

for this species. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''margarita'' is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

", referring to the large tubercle on its back.

Distribution and habitat

The known range of the daisy stingray extends from

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

to the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

; records of it occurring as far as

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

and

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

may have been mistakenly based on the pearl stingray. This

bottom-dwelling The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

species is found in marine and

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuary ...

s with a

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

of 20–40 ppt. It favors sandy

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s in shallow coastal waters to a depth of , though most are found between . This ray also reportedly frequents

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s and

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

; however, this also requires confirmation due to confusion with the pearl stingray.

Description

The

disc of the daisy stingray is moderately thin and rounded, measuring about as wide as long. The leading margins of the disc are concave and converge at the pointed, slightly projecting tip of the snout. The eyes are medium-sized and followed by somewhat larger spiracles. There is a curtain of skin between the nares, with a fringed, subtly tri-lobed posterior margin; a pair of shallow grooves run from the skin flap to the corners of the bow-shaped mouth. There are 5

papilla Papilla (Latin, 'nipple') or papillae may refer to: In animals * Papilla (fish anatomy), in the mouth of fish * Papilla (worms), small bumps on the surface of certain worms * Basilar papilla, a sensory organ of lizards, amphibians and fish * ...

e in a transverse row across the floor of the mouth, with the outermost pair set apart from the others. The tooth rows number 24–32 in the upper jaw and 28–36 rows in the lower jaw, and are arranged with a

quincunx A quincunx ( ) is a geometry, geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a Square (geometry), square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" ...

pattern into pavement-like surfaces. The

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s are short, with the tips projecting just past the disc margin. The tail is longer than the disc and usually bears a single long, thin stinging spine on the upper surface. The tail is broad and flattened at the base, becoming slender and whip-like past the spine with a low dorsal keel and a well-developed ventral fin fold. There is a massive, circular pearl spine at the center of the disc. Young rays are otherwise smooth-skinned, while older rays over across gain a wide band of small, flattened, circular

s covering the median third of the back from between the eyes to the base of the tail, as well as small prickles covering the tail behind the sting. This ray is a plain grayish brown above, and whitish below. It reaches a maximum known disc width of and weight of , though most do not exceed a width of . Females grow larger than males. Apart from being much larger, the daisy stingray can also be distinguished from the pearl stingray in having a relatively larger, round pearl spine, fewer tooth rows, and more pectoral fin radials (129–136 versus 113–127).

Biology and ecology

Little is known of the natural history of the daisy stingray. It feeds mainly on

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

bivalve Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...

s, and

annelid worm The annelids (), also known as the segmented worms, are animals that comprise the phylum Annelida (; ). The phylum contains over 22,000 extant species, including ragworms, earthworms, and leeches. The species exist in and have adapted to variou ...

s. Off

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, some three-quarters of its diet consists of the

Farfantepenaeus duorarum ''Farfantepenaeus duorarum'' is a species of marine penaeid shrimp found around Bermuda, along the east coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico. They are a significant commercial species in the United States and Cuba. Distribution ...

''.Omotosho, J.S. and M.O. Oyebanji (1997)
On some aspects of the biology of ''Dasyatis margarita'' (Gunther) from Nigeria continental shore
University of Ilorin. Retrieved on January 15, 2010. Like other stingrays, this species is

aplacental viviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop inside eggs that rema ...

. Females bear litters of 1–4 pups, with coastal lagoons and estuaries serving as a breeding ground. Reproductive activity peaks during the

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

from April to September, likely to correspond to high abundances of prey species.

Human interactions

The tail spine of the daisy stingray is reportedly highly

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

ous and potentially injurious to humans. The daisy stingray is caught by intensive

artisanal An artisan (from , ) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, sculpture, clothing, food ite ...

and small-scale

commercial fisheries Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often p ...

occurring off the coasts of

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

, and

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

, and sold fresh, smoked, or dried and salted for human consumption. A wide variety of fishing gear is used, including longlines,

bottom trawl Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and Demersal zone, demersal trawling. Benthic tra ...

trammel net A fishing net or fish net is a net used for fishing. Fishing nets work by serving as an improvised fish trap, and some are indeed rigged as traps (e.g. fyke nets). They are usually wide open when deployed (e.g. by casting or trawling), and th ...

gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

traps A trap is a device used for trapping animals. Trap or TRAP may also refer to: Art and entertainment Films and television * ''Trap'' (2015 film), a Filipino film * ''Trap'' (2024 film), an American film by M. Night Shyamalan * ''Traps'' ( ...

, beach seines, and hook-and-line.

Habitat degradation Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

from

agricultural runoff Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The po ...

and industrial development may also threaten its population. Once common, catches of this slow-reproducing ray have become scarce in recent years, leading the

(IUCN) to assess it as Vulnerable. The daisy stingray has not yet been the target of any specific conservation schemes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q46394787, from2=Q145364 Fontitrygon Fish described in 1870 Taxa named by Albert Günther