''Pastinachus stellurostris'', the starrynose cowtail ray, is a type of tropical ray of the family
Dasyatidae found mainly in Indonesia, specifically the estuary of
Kapuas River in
West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan () is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital and largest city is Pontianak. It is bordered by East Kalimantan and Central ...
.
It is believed to inhabit both freshwater and brackish water.
This species is threatened by local fisheries due to being captured either deliberately or accidentally.
Description
Not much is known about the biology, but investigations have been undergone and suggest that the starrynose cowtail ray can reach a maximum size of approximately 43 cm disc width.
The name "''stellurostris''", composed of the words "stella"/"starry" and "rostrum"/"snout", refers to the main characteristic of this species: star-shaped denticles on the snout.
Habitat & distribution
The starrynose cowtail ray is originally known from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, albeit more recent studies indicate its existence in the
Gulf of Thailand
The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...
.
This demersal ray lives in shallow, fresh or brackish waters of an unknown depth.
It is often caught as target or bycatch by small-scale local fisheries.
References
stellurostris
{{Improve categories, date=February 2025