Atlantic Stingray
(Hypanus sabinus)
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Animal Type
Sharks and Rays
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Exhibits
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Range
Atlantic Ocean
Overview
Atlantic stingrays are light brown or yellow in color with oval-shaped bodies and gills on their undersides. Their eyes are located on the tops of their heads, which lets them look for predators and prey while buried in sand. Atlantic stingrays spend most of their time on the bottoms of bodies of water like estuaries, rivers, lakes and the ocean.
These stingrays have fascinating adaptations. For example, they have venomous spines on their tails, which they use to defend themselves. Atlantic stingrays also have sensory organs called ampullae of Lorenzini. These organs allow Atlantic stingrays to sense the electrical charges of other animals at close range, which makes it easier to hide from predators or find prey.
Quick Facts
Learn more about Atlantic stingrays! Did you know they lose and grow new tail spines each year? Females have bigger tail spines than males because their bodies are larger.
These stingrays live in brackish and freshwater areas from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. They even visit the Chesapeake Bay in the summer and fall when the water is warm and travel south in the fall and winter when the Bay's water starts to cool.
Atlantic stingrays mostly eat worms, crabs, shrimp and other shellfish.
Male stingrays can grow up to 12 inches wide, while females can grow up to 14 inches. They are one of the smallest stingray species.
The Atlantic stingray is listed as a species of least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
Large predators like sharks prey on Atlantic stingrays.
Explore Similar Animals
The National Aquarium—and the aquatic world—is full of amazing animals like this one.
Australian Whipray (Himantura australis)
Its tail can be up to three times the length of its body
Roughtail Stingray (Dasyatis centroura)
Roughtail stingrays are named for the thorny plates, or tubercles, that run along the outer part of their body and base of their tail.
White-Blotched River Stingray (Potamotrygon leopoldi)
This stingray has a distinctive pattern of dots, helping it blend into its riverbed habitat.
Largetooth Sawfish (Pristis pristis)
It's most prominent feature is its rostrum, also referred to as snout or saw, which has 14 to 23 large rostral teeth protruding from it.