The Blotched Fantail Ray (Taeniura meyeni) is a tropical stingray species belonging to the family Dasyatididae and has a broad distribution throughout the Indo-western Pacific region. It is known to occur from the Red Sea and east Africa across to northern Australia including the waters of the Japanese Archipelago, Lord Howe Island and Micronesia. It is also commonly referred to as the ‘black blotched stingray’, ‘black-spotted stingray’, ‘giant reef ray’ and the ‘round ribbontail ray’.
This is a large stingray species with a very distinct disc shape and colour pattern and a long broad ventral skin fold. The upper surface is mottled black with white patches whilst the underbody is white. It is generally found occurring on rocky and coral reefs. The Blotched Fantail Ray (Taeniura meyeni) grows to a maximum length of approximately 3.3 metres and a width of 1.8 metres.
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