Shark Trust

This species is a light fawn to brown colour with lots of small black spots that extend to the extreme edge of the disc intermingled with a few indistinct larger creamy spots. The underside is white. R. brachyura is a short snouted species with the outer angles of the wings being almost at right angles. The adult’s backs are covered in prickles whilst the young are smooth.

Their weight ranges between 15 and 25lb. Adult males can grow up to 120cm with the females obtaining a slightly larger maximum size of 125cm.

Blonde Rays are found in temperate waters, 60ºN - 21ºN, 18ºW - 24ºE. They are common on the Western and Southern Coasts of Britain but can be found as far North as the Western Isles of Scotland. In the Eastern Atlantic they inhabit waters from the Shetland Isles to Morocco, Rio de Oro and Madeira.

Habitat:Tend to favour marine water that is less than 100m deep with sandy-rocky bottoms but can be found in depths between 10 and 380m. They make local migrations, usually in unisexual shoals.

Diet: They feed on small fish but will also eat crustaceans and molluscs.

Reproduction: R. brachyura is an oviparous species with distinct pairing. They produce the largest egg cases of all the ‘rays’. The cases are 10 – 14.3cm long and 5.8 – 9cm wide (when soaked), oblong with stiff pointed horns and 40 – 90 capsules are deposited in sandy or muddy flats per individual every year. The young hatch from their horned egg cases during the summer and tend to follow large objects.

The Aquarium Project