Thornback Ray

The thornback ray is a true skate with a broad, angular disc, mottled brown above with darker and paler blotches and a scatter of stout thorns set on rounded button-like bases across the back and tail. Unlike stingrays it has no venomous tail spine and lays horny egg-cases rather than bearing live young.

It lives on sand and mud over the cooler continental shelf around the southern and western Cape, feeding on crabs, shrimps and small fish that it pins to the bottom. It is taken as a by-catch by trawl and line fishing, and its slow reproduction makes it vulnerable to sustained pressure. Divers may find its distinctive egg-cases washed up on Cape beaches.