Common eagle ray

How it lives

It lives in sandy or muddy bays, lagoons and estuaries, often in groups. It is usually found shallower than 50 m. FishBase gives a depth range of 1 to 300 m, and one profile records it as deep as 537 m in southern Africa. In the breeding period groups of dozens can gather. Females give birth to live young, 3 to 7 pups after 6 to 8 months. The tail has one or two stinging spines at its base. The ray is not considered a risk to people, but it should never be handled.

Where it goes

The common eagle ray lives in the eastern Atlantic from the British Isles and the south-western North Sea south to South Africa, throughout the Mediterranean, and in the south-western Indian Ocean. In a lagoon on Gran Canaria it was recorded mostly in winter and summer. The sources I opened describe no long-distance migration route.

We only draw a journey on the map when scientists have tracked it or clearly documented it. For this animal we have not found one yet.

Populations

IUCN assessed the common eagle ray as Critically Endangered in 2020 (published 2021), under criteria A2bd, which are based on past decline in abundance and on levels of exploitation. It is caught as bycatch in trawls and nets, and because it schools, whole groups can be taken in one haul. A profile of the species says it has not been recorded in commercial landings in the central and eastern Mediterranean since 1980. The same profile names South Africa, where fishing pressure is lower, as the one region where numbers look relatively stable. In a study of the Adriatic Sea, trawlers caught about one eagle ray every 20 hauls, and about 79 percent of those were released alive.