Cownose ray
| Diet | Mollusks such as oysters and clams |
|---|---|
| Size | Wingspan up to 3 feet; weighs up to 50 pounds |
| Type | Sharks & Rays |
| Range | East-Central and West-Central Atlantic Ocean |
| Habitat | Shallow coastal waters |
About the Cownose ray
You couldn’t find a better kind of stingray for an experience like Stingray Touch than the big-eyed, blunt-snouted cownose rays.
Did you know?
When foraging, cownose rays flap their fins to clear away sand, revealing hidden clams and oysters.
After an 11-12 month gestation period, female cownose rays give birth to just one pup per year. This slow reproductive cycle makes their populations highly vulnerable to overfishing.
IUCN Red List Conservation Status
Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan®
This species is part of a program to support healthy, genetically diverse animal populations.
Long-distance swimmers
Cownose rays are renowned for their marathon mass migrations. Each autumn, as their summer waters as far north as southern New England start to cool, schools numbering thousands of rays seek warmer habitats in the southern Caribbean, including Venezuela and Brazil. In the Gulf of Mexico, schools of as many as 10,000 rays migrate from the waters off Florida's west coast down and around to Yucatan. These rays are also found along the coast of West Africa. Moving in huge numbers offers protection from predators such as hammerhead and great white sharks.
Venomous but not dangerous
Like many other rays, cownoses have one or two venomous barbed spines at the base of the tail that they wield in self-defense. These rays aren't considered dangerous to humans, though, because the venom is not fatal. They also seldom rest on the bottom, reducing their likelihood of being stepped on—the most common run-in between rays and people. While they live in warm or temperate coastal waters, they tend to swim at the surface. The cownose rays in Stingray Touch have had their spines clipped, similar to clipping fingernails.