Aetobatus narinari

The spotted eagle ray is a cartilaginous fish of the eagle ray family, Aetobatidae. As traditionally recognized, it is found globally in tropical regions, including the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. Recent authorities have restricted it to the Atlantic with other populations recognized as the ocellated eagle ray and Pacific white-spotted eagle ray. Spotted eagle rays are most commonly seen alone, but occasionally swim in groups. They are ovoviviparous, the female retaining the eggs then releasing the young as miniature versions of the parent.

Aetobatus narinari

the manta ray had a family · Public Domain · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
spotted eagle rayPBDB
Sits inside
AetobatusPBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Life habit
nektobenthicPBDB, for Myliobatiformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Myliobatiformes

Time the record covers

At least 11 million years on record.

The record covers at least 11.63 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Miocene — about 14 of 19 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 1 of 19 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 4 of 19 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–12 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences8.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.1–549 ka Mya — about 0.6 occurrences549 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences11.63 Mya129 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

19 occurrences of Aetobatus narinari on record, most of them in the Miocene. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

19 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Urumaco — 11.21°N, 70.25°WUrumaco — 11.24°N, 70.25°WGatun — 9.35°N, 79.84°WGatun — 9.34°N, 79.82°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WSocorro — 11.21°N, 70.14°WCodore — 11.27°N, 70.28°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Aetobatus narinari has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 3 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aetobatus narinari and its relatives

Miocene

Where Aetobatus narinari and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

297 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 19 sites for Aetobatus narinari, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

5 references

Each of the 19 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Each entry links to doi.org. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Aetobatus narinari

Credit
the manta ray had a family
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Aetobatus narinari was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAetobatus through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Euphrasen 1790)