''Paratrygon aiereba'' also known as discus ray, manzana ray or ceja ray is a river stingray from the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

basin in South America.

Appearance

This freshwater ray has small eyes and a disc shaped roughly like a lily pad (the snout is slightly concave). It is brownish above with a dark

vermiculated Vermiculation is a surface pattern of dense but irregular lines, so called from the Latin meaning "little worm" because the shapes resemble worms, worm casts, or worm tracks in mud or wet sand. The word may be used in a number of contexts for ...

or reticulated pattern. It reaches up to in disc width and in weight, making it one of the largest species in the family. There are unconfirmed claims of much larger individuals, but these are considered highly questionable. Most individuals do not surpass a disc width of . Males reach maturity at a disc width of about and females at about .

Behavior

It mainly feeds on fish, but also take invertebrates such as insects and crustaceans, and it is a

top predator An apex predator, also known as a top predator or superpredator, is a predator at the top of a food chain, without natural predators of its own. Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics, meaning that they occupy the hig ...

in its habitat. Adults are found in relatively deep waters in main river channels, but move to shallower waters to feed at night. After a nine-month gestation, the female give birth to an average of two young with a disc width of about . Juveniles are found in relatively shallow waters at sandy beaches and in creeks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3259324 Potamotrygonidae Fish of the Amazon basin Fish of Bolivia Freshwater stingrays of Brazil Freshwater fish of Ecuador Freshwater fish of Peru Freshwater fish of Venezuela Taxa named by Johannes Peter Müller Taxa named by Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle Fish described in 1841 Freshwater fish of Colombia