Kapala stingaree facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kapala stingaree |
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Urolophidae
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Urolophus
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U. kapalensis
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| Urolophus kapalensis Yearsley & Last, 2006
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The Kapala stingaree (Urolophus kapalensis) is a type of stingray. It lives only in the waters near the coast of southeastern Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. You can usually find it on or around rocky reefs, about 10 to 130 meters (33 to 427 feet) deep.
This stingaree can grow up to 51 centimeters (20 inches) long. It has a round, diamond-shaped body and a thin tail. The tail ends in a leaf-shaped fin and has skin folds on its sides. It also has a small fin just before its stinging spine. A special bell-shaped skin flap is found between its nostrils. The Kapala stingaree is greenish on top. It has dark marks that vary a lot, usually around its eyes and on its back and tail.
Kapala stingarees mainly eat crustaceans, like shrimp and small amphipods. They also eat small bony fishes and polychaete worms. Female stingarees give birth to live young, usually one pup at a time. The mother provides food for the pup inside her body. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) says this species is Near Threatened. This means it might become endangered soon. It often gets caught by accident in fishing nets. It's not very good at recovering because it has few babies and can lose them if caught.
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Discovering the Kapala Stingaree
Scientists Gordon Yearsley and Peter Last from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) first described the Kapala stingaree. They wrote about it in 2006 in a science magazine called Zootaxa. Before this, it was just called Urolophus "sp. A".
They named the stingaree after the research ship FRV Kapala. This ship did many fishery surveys off New South Wales in the 1980s and 1990s. These surveys helped scientists learn a lot about fish. On November 14, 1984, the Kapala collected the first official sample of this stingaree. It was an adult male, 35 centimeters (14 inches) long, found in the Tasman Sea near Jervis Bay. Some people also call this ray the banded stingaree.
Where the Kapala Stingaree Lives
The Kapala stingaree only lives along the eastern coast of Australia. Its home range stretches from Cape Moreton in Queensland down to Disaster Bay in New South Wales. This stingray lives on the ocean floor near the coast. It has been found at depths between 10 and 130 meters (33 and 427 feet).
Off Queensland, it is common in waters deeper than 62 meters (203 feet). However, off New South Wales, it is rare north of the Clarence River. South of the Clarence River, it is common in shallower waters, less than 50 meters (164 feet) deep. The Kapala stingaree likes rocky reefs and the sandy areas next to them. It also lives in areas with seagrass beds.
What the Kapala Stingaree Looks Like
The body of the Kapala stingaree is shaped like a diamond. Its outer corners and back edges are rounded. The body is a little wider than it is long. The front edges of its body are almost straight and meet at a wide angle at its snout. Its eyes are not too big, and behind them are tear-shaped holes called spiracles.
There is a small bump on the back edge of each nostril. Between its nostrils, there is a bell-shaped flap of skin. This flap has a slightly fringed back edge and long corners. Only one other stingaree, the sparsely-spotted stingaree (U. paucimaculatus), has a similar nasal flap. Its mouth is small and has 5 to 7 small bumps, called papillae, on its floor in a W-shape. The lower jaw also has a patch of papillae that form ridges.
The teeth have diamond-shaped bases and are arranged in a pattern. The teeth on the sides of the jaw are blunt, but those in the middle are taller and more pointed. It has 25 rows of teeth on its upper jaw and 31 to 32 rows on its lower jaw. The five pairs of gill slits are S-shaped. Its pelvic fins are small with rounded back edges. Males have short, thick claspers, which are used for reproduction.
The tail of the Kapala stingaree is thin and flat. It is about 82 to 90% as long as its body. The tail ends in a low, leaf-shaped caudal fin. There is a clear skin fold running along each side of the tail. A very thin, jagged stinging spine is located on top of the tail, about halfway along its length. Just in front of the spine is a long, low dorsal fin. The skin of this stingaree is completely smooth, without any rough scales.
The Kapala stingaree is greenish on top, becoming pinkish near the edges of its body. It has different dark markings. These usually include a triangle-shaped spot under each eye and a V-shaped bar between the eyes. There's also a spot at the base of the pelvic fins and two spots in the middle of the body. These spots extend into stripes that go onto the tail. Not all stingarees have all these marks. Some might be mottled or almost black on top. The underside is off-white with a wide, dark band around the edge of its body. The tail is pale with a dark stripe down the middle on top. Sometimes, it has scattered dark spots underneath. The dorsal fin is greenish, and the caudal fin is light with a dark edge in adults. In young stingarees, the caudal fin is entirely dark. The biggest one found was 51 centimeters (20 inches) long.
Diet and Reproduction
The Kapala stingaree mostly eats bottom-dwelling shrimp and amphipods. These make up about 70% of its food. Other important foods include penaeid prawns and small bony fishes. They rarely eat crabs, polychaete worms, or isopods. What they eat stays pretty much the same as they get older. However, older rays tend to eat more amphipods and fewer shrimp than younger ones.
Like other stingrays, this species gives birth to live young. The developing embryos are fed by a special "uterine milk" produced by the mother. Usually, only one pup is born at a time. The pups are about 15 centimeters (6 inches) long when they are born. Males become ready to reproduce when they are about 28 to 31 centimeters (11 to 12 inches) long.
Conservation Status and Threats
Many Kapala stingarees are accidentally caught in prawn fishing nets. These nets are used by fisheries off Queensland and New South Wales. This accidental catching might have caused a drop in the number of these stingarees. Other stingarees in the area have also faced similar problems.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the Kapala stingaree as Near Threatened. This is because it lives in a small area, has a low number of babies, and tends to lose its young when caught. Special devices called Turtle Exclusion Devices (TEDs) have been installed in some nets. These devices help turtles escape, but they don't seem to have helped the Kapala stingaree much.
