Stingray Facts

About the stingray

Eleven families make up the stingray group, including butterfly rays, eagle rays, manta and devil rays, cownose rays, whiptail stingrays and river stingrays. Most stingrays live in coastal tropical and subtropical seas around the world. Some, like the thorntail stingray, prefer warmer temperate oceans, and the deepwater stingray lives far down in the deep sea.

Not all of them need salt water. River stingrays and several whiptail species are limited to fresh water. Most live near the bottom, though pelagic stingrays and eagle rays swim in open water. More and more species are becoming threatened or vulnerable, mostly because of unregulated fishing. Some species are so poorly studied that they are listed as data deficient.

Did you know?

• As of 2013, the IUCN listed 45 stingray species as vulnerable or endangered.
• Manta rays belong to the stingray suborder.
• The Niger stingray lives only in fresh water.