Longnose Stingray, Hypanus guttatus
Longnose Stingray, Hypanus guttatus. Fish caught off the beach in Belize, March 2022. Total Length: 92 cm (3 feet 0 inches); Disc Width: 41 cm (16 inches); Disc Length: 39 cm (15 inches). Tail: 53 cm (21 inches). Catch, photograph and Identification courtesy of Vince Golder, Santa Cruz, California.
The Longnose Stingray, Hypanus guttatus, is a member of the Whiptail Stingray or Dasyatidae Family, and is known in Mexico as raya látigo hocicona and raya látigo del Golfo. Globally, there are eight species in the Hypanus Genus, of which six are found in Mexican waters, four in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.
The Longnose Stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disk that is slightly wider than long with outer corners forming right angles and gently concave anterior margins converging to an obtuse, moderately projecting snout. Their head has small eyes and an elongated tightly rounded tip. The mouth is curved with a median projection in the upper jaw that fits into an indentation in the lower jaw. They have a row of three papillae across the floor of the mouth. There are 34–46 tooth rows in the upper jaw; the teeth have tetragonal bases and blunt crowns in females and juveniles and sharp, pointed cusps in mature males. The pectoral fins are tightly rounded to angular. The pelvic fins are small and narrowly rounded. They have a slender, whip-like tail that 2.5 x 3.0 longer than the disc width that usually bears a single serrated stinging spine near the base. Behind the spine, there is a long, fleshy dorsal keel and a ventral fin fold two-thirds to four-fifths as high as the tail. They have a row of small, blunt thorns along the midline of the back, from between the eyes to the base of the tail spine. They vary in color from olive, brown, or gray dorsally, sometimes with darker spots, and yellowish to white ventrally; the keel and fin fold on the tail are black.
The Longnose Stingray is a large demersal found over and within sandy and muddy substrates, sometimes adjacent to rocky reefs from brackish intertidal areas to depths up to 70 m (230 feet). They have the ability to tolerate a wide variety of salinities. They are sedentary in nature spending much of their time resting on the substrate. Females are larger than males and have a maximum disc width of 2.0 meters (6 feet 6 inches). Females reach maturity in 7 years, males in 5 years. They have life spans of 14 years.
Longnose Stingrays feed mainly on benthic invertebrates including crustaceans, mollusks and worms and small and small bony fishes. They utilize their pectoral fins to uncover burrowing prey and their pavement-like teeth to grind up hard-shelled organisms. Diet includes crustaceans, echinoderms, mollusks, worms, and small fishes. They have a limited number of predators, which include large sharks such as hammerheads. Reproduction involves distinct pairing with embrace and is aplacental viviparous, with females bearing two litters of 1–2 pups per year which have disc width of between 12.3 cm (4.8 inches) and 15.3 cm (6.0 inches). They have 5 to 6 month gestation periods. The young are born in waters with low salinity, move into saltier water as juveniles, and then back into fresher water as adults when they reach sexual maturity. The developing embryos are sustained by yolk and later by uterine milk enriched with mucus, fat and protein from the mother.
The Longnose Stingrays are found in all coastal Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean with the exception that they are absent from east of the Gulf of Campeche, in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Longnose Stingray is most likely confused with the Southern Stingray, Hypanus americanus (angular non-projecting snout, one row of long thorns and two rows of short thorns on the back).
From a conservation perspective the Longnose Stingray is currently considered to be NEAR THREATENED. Within some parts of their range the Longnose Stingray is heavily pursue by artisanal fishermen and unmanaged commercial fisheries with gillnets and beach seines and by commercial trawl fisheries. Their white flesh is considered to be highly esteemed and sold fresh, frozen or salted. In many areas their populations have been estimated to have declined by as much as 50% over the last 30 years. In general, the Longnose Stingray are not considered dangerous to humans, but can be harmful to humans if they are stepped on accidentally and therefore classified as Traumatogenic. In some locations they are an important ecotourism resource throughout the Caribbean but are shy and generally difficult to approach. They are utilized by the aquarium trade on a nominal level.