Fish Identification Photos: Whiptail Stingay, Dasyatis brevis: The Whiptail or Diamond Stingray is normally of black coloration with an olive hue. It has a diamond-shaped body slightly wider than it is long. The distinctive tail has two small adjacent “tail-like” appendages at the tail base. The head is well defined with a large distance between the eyes. The underside is white. The Whiptail Stingray is not easily confused with any other stingray found in Mexican waters.

The Whiptail Stingray is one of the more abundant members of the order Myliobatiformes or Stingray Order, family Dasyatidae, and genus Dasyatis which includes the fintail stingrays.

The Whiptail Stingray reaches a maximum size of just over 6 feet wide, 4 feet long, and about 100 pounds in weight, with the females being larger than the males.

The Whiptail Stingray travels in loosely aggregated schools segregated by size and sex, and is often found half-submerged in the sand.

The Whiptail Stingray is found in the first 200 feet of the water column over sandy and mud bottoms with the larger adults found in deeper waters. It stirs the bottom with its pectoral fins in order to dislodge small crustaceans, small fishes, mussels, and worms on which it feeds.

The Whiptail Stingray has a broad distribution in Mexican waters, and is found all along the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula, throughout the Sea of Cortez, along the coast of the mainland, and around the oceanic islands.

Since it has a long life span and is slow growing there is a concern that the Whiptail Stingray is being over fished in certain areas of Mexico.

Whiptail Stingay, Dasyatis brevis: Photo courtesy Peter Langstraat. Whiptail Stingay, Dasyatis brevis: Forty-eight inches wide, caught from the beach in June 1994 at Punta Arena, East Cape, Baja California Sur, Mexico, on 25-pound line. Says Peter Langstraat, "This species of ray is the strongest I ever encountered. During six consecutive days in June 1994, I hooked nine and caught seven. The shortest fight was 40 minutes, the longest 70, and mind you, on 25-pound line. It is like fighting a tuna from the beach." Description and photo courtesy Peter Langstraat. Fish identification courtesy John Snow.