The lesser devil ray (''Mobula hypostoma'') is a

ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

in the family

Mobulidae The Mobulidae (manta rays and devilfishes) are a family of rays consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom. Taxonomy The Mobulidae have been variously considered a subfamily of the Myliobatidae by ...

. They occur along the coasts of the western Atlantic, from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Habitat

These rays live in shallow waters and can be found singly or in large shoals.

Diet

They feed on mostly

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gr ...

, but will sometimes feed on shoals of smaller fish.

Description

True to their name, lesser devil rays are relatively small, with a maximum width of about . They have smaller cephalic fins than their larger manta cousins, and have longer spineless tails.

References

* * *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4548397 lesser devil ray Fish of the Western Atlantic Fish of the Dominican Republic Vulnerable fish lesser devil ray