Divefree

Ray

Short-tail Stingray

Bathytoshia brevicaudata

A massive dark stingray with a short thick tail, one of the largest rays on South African reefs and sand.

Also known as black stingray, honeycomb, shorttail stingray, smooth stingray

Short-tail Stingray
Photo: Nigel Marsh · CC BY-NC 4.0
Typical size
Disc commonly 1-2 m across
Habitat
Reef, sand and mixed inshore ground
Depth
Shallows to about 100 m

The short-tail stingray, sometimes called the smooth or honeycomb stingray in old records, is a huge, heavily built ray with a broad grey to blackish disc, small white spots or pores near the eyes, and a comparatively short, thick tail bearing one or more venomous spines.

It occurs over reef, sand and mixed ground around the southern and Eastern Cape and up into KZN, where large individuals sometimes gather at dive sites and become accustomed to divers. Impressive but potentially dangerous, its tail spine can inflict a serious wound, so give it space and never crowd or corner it. It feeds on crabs, molluscs and fish rooted from the bottom.