ALBINO DIAMOND STINGRAY

When searching for food, diamond stingrays may form groups of up to hundreds of individuals. It is most active at night and preys mainly on burrowing invertebrates and small bony fishes, which are extracted from the bottom via suction or digging. This species is aplacental viviparous: once the embryos exhaust their yolk supply, they are nourished by histotroph (“uterine milk”) produced by the mother. Females bear 1–4 pups every summer in estuaries; mating is followed by a ten-month period of either sperm storage or arrested embryonic development, after which the embryos rapidly mature over 2–3 months. The slowest-growing stingray known, this species is not resilient against fishing pressure. It is caught for food by artisanal fishers in Latin America, particularly in Mexico where it is one of the most economically important rays. This is assessed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Though innocuous towards humans, the diamond stingray’s long, venomous tail spine is potentially dangerous.