GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - The Stranded Animal Rescue Team (S.M.A.R.T.) published information about a Duckbill Ray that Mossel Bay resident, Bernardino Marques spotted with his drone in the sea at Pienaar beach in Glentana.
The Environmental conservation organisation says this is quite exciting as this animal is on the global critical endangered species list, especially in the Mediterranean Sea area where their population is highly suspected to be decreasing by approximately 80% during the last 45 years.
According to S.M.A.R.T., the Duckbill Ray (which is also called the Bull Ray in other parts of the world) is a thick-headed Eagle Ray with several pale blue-grey stripes across its light brown body. It has a rounded flat snout, very much like a duck’s bill, hence its name.
Their underside is white and it may be that stripes are sometimes absent.
They are found along our Southeastern Coast, Saldanha Bay to Natal and Southern Mozambique. Elsewhere they appear in the tropical Eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and possibly off Zanzibar in the western Indian Ocean.
They are powerful swimmers and are sometimes found in small groups. They feed on bivalves (clams, oysters, cockles, mussels, scallops, etc.), gastropods (limpets, whelks, periwinkles, abalones, venomous cone shells, and the shell-less nudibranchs, sea slugs and sea hares) bony fish and squid.
Read more on sister publication, Mossel Bay Advertiser
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