Spotted eagle ray (ocellated eagle ray)
Aetobatus ocellatus
Ocellated eagle rays glide across Indo-Pacific reefs and sand flats. Stay still, keep your distance and let the ray choose its path.
Endangered (IUCN, year not confirmed) means it is at very high risk of extinction in the wild.
Photos show the species, not always the places on this page.
Length
Usually about 1.8 m (5.9 ft) across (disc width); largest about 3 m (10 ft) across
Weight
Typical weight not reliably measured; largest recorded about 200 kg (440 lb)
Next to a person
Commonly about as wide as a tall adult is tall; the largest are wider than a person is tall
What it eats
Hard-shelled sea-floor animals such as clams, oysters, whelks and hermit crabs, plus crustaceans, worms, octopus and small fish.
Around people
Defensive if pressured
How it lives
The spotted eagle ray feeds on the sea floor in coastal waters and estuaries, usually at 20-25 m, cracking open clams, oysters and other shellfish. Females give birth to live young, up to 10 pups, but usually four or fewer, after a pregnancy of more than a year.
Where it goes
Long-distance travels of this eagle ray are still poorly known. In some places rays seem to stay in one area, while in others they move more. In the Maldives, a drone survey over a mangrove bay on Baarah Island saw four eagle rays, one of them a juvenile, and the authors think these mangroves may work as a nursery.
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
What was once thought to be one worldwide species has been split. The spotted (ocellated) eagle ray, A. ocellatus, lives in the Indo-West Pacific; A. narinari lives mainly in the western Atlantic, and A. laticeps in the eastern Pacific. Their spot patterns and genetics differ. The eagle rays of the Galápagos belong to the eastern Pacific species, not to this one. In Australia fishing pressure is low and numbers are thought to be stable, but in South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean they have fallen a lot.
Meet it respectfully
Give the ray several metres and let it pass. Never chase, touch, grab or corner it, stay out of its escape path, and keep your fins off the bottom where it feeds. The tail carries venomous spines that can cause serious injury if the ray feels trapped. Boats should slow down and stay quiet near feeding rays. In the Maldives all rays are protected by law since June 2014.
Fun fact
Tap the bulb to light it up.
It was long mixed up with the Atlantic whitespotted eagle ray and was only clearly recognised as its own species in 2010.
Its long tail carries one or more venomous spines, used for defence.
Females can have up to 10 pups, but usually four or fewer.
The spotted eagle ray's whip-like tail is so long that, from nose to tail tip, the ray measures on average about 2.8 times its wingspan.
Source: Fishes of Australia (Museums Victoria), Whitespotted Eagle Ray, Aetobatus ocellatus
Its teeth are joined into flat plates in a single row, and the lower plates are shaped like chevrons, a strong tool for crushing shells.
Source: Fishes of Australia (Museums Victoria), Whitespotted Eagle Ray, Aetobatus ocellatus
At Moʻorea, researchers played different sounds to feeding eagle rays. Tones did not bother them, but the sound of a boat motor made 60% of the rays swim away.
Source: Berthe and Lecchini, 2016, Comptes Rendus Biologies, boat noise and eagle rays at Moʻorea
Eagle rays sometimes leap clear of the water. Drone films of 15 leaps showed that each one came after something bothered the ray, like a clinging remora or a great hammerhead coming close.
Source: Nolan et al., 2026, Marine and Freshwater Research, why ocellated eagle rays breach
Spotted eagle ray (ocellated eagle ray) in the Ocean Atlas
Places we have researched where this animal is recorded. It is never guaranteed, and some places are for watching from the boat only.
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American Samoa
Australia
Cook Islands
Curaçao
Ecuador
Egypt
Fiji
French Polynesia
Guam
India
Indonesia
Israel
Malaysia
Maldives
Marshall Islands
New Caledonia
Northern Mariana Islands
Oman
Palau
Philippines
Réunion
Saint Lucia
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
South Africa
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
United StatesRead more about the spotted eagle ray (ocellated eagle ray)
Sources for this page
- FishBase, 2023
- Senna et al., 2026, Ecology and Evolution, eagle rays in a Maldives mangrove bay
- FRDC Shark and Ray Report Card, 2023, Spotted eagle ray
- Marín, 2025, Genetica, mitogenome confirms Aetobatus ocellatus as an Indo-West Pacific species
- Save Our Seas Foundation, 2014, All ray species now protected in the Maldives
- iNaturalist research-grade records, Aetobatus ocellatus, checked 25 Sep 2026
- White et al., 2010, CSIRO
- Maldives Gazette, 2014
Facts checked 26 September 2026. Photos: Unsplash licence, or Creative Commons as shown on each photo.
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