Red stingray
species of Elasmobranchii
The red stingray (Hemitrygon akajei) is a species of stingray in the family Dasyatidae, found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean off Japan, Korea, and China, and possibly elsewhere. It primarily inhabits shallow, sandy habitats close to shore, and has been known to enter brackish water. The red stingray has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc and gains its common name from its bright orange-red underside; there may also be patches of orange at various spots on its upper surface. Most individuals are no more than 1 m (3.3 ft) long.
Feeding mainly on crustaceans and bony fishes, the red stingray plays a key ecological role as an apex predator in its environment. Reproduction is aplacental viviparous, with females giving birth to 1 or up to 10 pups at a time. The red stingray is valued as food in Japan; large numbers are caught as bycatch and brought to market, which has seemingly led to a population decline in this unprolific species. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Near Threatened.
Taxonomy
The original description of the red stingray was published by Johannes Müller and Friedrich Henle in their 1841 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen under the name Trygon akajei, based on an earlier account of "Pastinaca akajei" by Heinrich Bürger. A lectotype for this species was designated by Marinus Boeseman in 1947.
The public source identifies “Red stingray” as species of Elasmobranchii. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around stingray, species and Elasmobranchii.
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This entry incorporates text from “Red stingray” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.