386 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



Relation to Man. D. say is probably a more serious source of danger to fishermen 

 and bathers on the Atlantic Coast of the United States than any other Ray, since it is 

 generally more plentiful than either of the other large Sting Rays that coexist with it 

 in one part of its range or another. Because of the danger from their spines, fishermen 

 who hook them accidentally or who find them in their nets usually cut off their tails 

 before throwing them back into the water. We think it likely that at least some of the 

 tailless specimens that have been recorded in scientific literature (we have seen some 

 also) have been mutilated in this way rather than by large Sharks, though Sting Rays 

 have long been known to contribute to the diet of the latter. 



Range. Coastal waters of the western Atlantic from southern Brazil, perhaps 

 Uruguay and northern Argentina, northward regularly to Chesapeake Bay and Vir- 

 ginia, not uncommonly to New Jersey, and accidentally to southern Massachusetts. 



Details of Occurrence. This Ray is to be expected in suitable situations all along 

 the South American Coast from middle or southern Brazil to the mainland shore of 

 the Caribbean, and throughout the general region of the Greater and Lesser Antilles, 

 for it is recorded definitely or with reasonable probability "^ from Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, 

 and Natal in Brazil; from French Guiana where it is so plentiful as to be a menace 

 to fishermen; from British Guiana; from Martinique, Turks Island, Puerto Rico, 

 Santo Domingo, Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. 



Curiously enough, nothing whatever is known of its status along the western 

 shores of the Caribbean or along the Mexican coastline of the Gulf of Mexico, though 

 it may occur there. There are only two records for it from Texas"* and one from 

 Louisiana."* However, we suspect that it is more general in its occurrence around the 

 northern side of the Gulf than the printed record would indicate, for among Sting 

 Rays it is described as ranking second only to the little D. sabina along the west coast 

 of Florida."^ On the east coast of Florida it has been recorded from both Biscayne Bay 

 and Indian River. No doubt it occurs along the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina 

 during the warmer months of the year, though it is not definitely recorded thence, 

 probably due to the paucity of local ichthyological knowledge. In season (p. 385) it has 

 been characterized as the commonest Ray at Cape Lookout, North Carolina, and as 

 plentiful in estuarine situations in the vicinity of Beaufort nearby. On its migrations it 

 must also skirt the northern coast of North Carolina and southern Virginia equally 

 regularly (p. 385), for it is common in the southern parts of Chesapeake Bay (some- 

 times common enough to be troublesome) and perhaps farther up the Bay as well."* 

 Probably it visits the coasts of northern Virginia and Maryland yearly,"' for fishermen 

 report that large Rays of some sort enter the local bays in July, "their arrival made 



142. The published record is more dependable for £>. say than for other local Sting Rays, because it is easily identifiable. 



143. Corpus Christi, and simply Texas. 144. Off Grand Isle (see Study Material, p. 378). 



145. Reported from Apalachicola Bay and St. Vincent Island, Pensacola, Tampa Bay, Charlotte Harbor, Englewood, 

 Lemon Bay, and Key West, Florida (see Study Material, p. 378, for the first two of these localities). 



146. We have seen it in large numbers at Lynnhaven Roads. For further details as to its status in the Bay, see Hildebrand 

 and Schroeder (Bull. U.S. Bur. Fish., 42, 1928: 66). 



147. Reported from Cape Charles, Smiths Island and nearby inlets, Chincoteague, and Ocean City. 



