Yellow Stingray - Biology and Ecology

Biology and Ecology

During the day, the yellow stingray is fairly inactive and spends much time buried under a thin layer of sediment or lying motionless in vegetation. Tracking studies have shown that it generally remains within a small home range of around 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft), with individuals covering only a portion of the entire area on any particular day. It favors the boundaries between different terrain, such as sand and reef. Its periscopic eyes give it a 360° panoramic view of its surroundings; each eye bears an elaborate covering or "operculum" that allows fine control over the amount of light entering the pupil. Therefore, the resting ray is well-equipped to detect approaching predators, which may potentially include any large carnivorous fish such as the tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier). The yellow stingray is most sensitive to sounds of 300–600 Hertz, which is fairly typical among sharks and rays that have been investigated thus far. It and other stingrays have a large brain relative to other rays, comprising around 1–2% of the body weight.

The diet of the yellow stingray is poorly documented but includes shrimps, and likely also worms, clams, and small bony fishes. Typically, the ray will settle over a prey item and trap it against the bottom, whereupon it is manipulated to the mouth with motions of the disc. Like the related round stingray (U. halleri), this species sometimes uses undulations of its disc margins to excavate pits and reveal buried prey. It has also been observed raising the front of its disc to create a shaded "cave", to attract shelter-seeking organisms. Known parasites of the yellow stingray include the tapeworms Acanthobothrium cartagenensis, Phyllobothrium kingae, Discobothrium caribbensis, Rhinebothrium magniphallum, and R. biorchidum, and the monogenean Dendromonocotyle octodiscus.