Feature Creature

Synonym(s): Aetobatus guttatus (Shaw, 1804), Myliobatus ocellatus (Kuhl, 1823)

Aetobatus ocellatus (Kuhl, 1923) was previously considered to be an Indo-West and Central Pacific form of the wider ranging Aetobatus narinari (Euphrasen, 1790). Comparative analysis of the morphology, molecular and parasite diversity has resulted in the redescription of A. ocellatus from tropical and warm-temperate waters of the Indian Ocean and West-Central Pacific Ocean with A. narinari being restricted to the Atlantic Ocean (Richards et al. 2009, White et al. 2010). Molecular analyses suggest greater levels of speciation within the Aetobatus genus, with distinguishable groups in the Western Indian Ocean and Northwest Pacific (Schluessel et al. 2010, White et al. 2010). This requires further examination to delineate species boundaries.

The Ocellated Eagle Ray (Aetobatus ocellatus) has recently been re-described as a separate species from the White-spotted Eagle Ray (A. narinari). This is a large eagle ray with a widespread distribution across the Indo-Pacific in tropical and warm-temperate waters. Recorded over the continental shelf from the surface to 60 m depth in coastal and open ocean environments. It sometimes enters lagoons and estuaries and is often associated with coral reef ecosystems.

The Ocellated Eagle Ray is recorded from landing sites across much of its range, particularly within Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. It is susceptible to capture from a variety of fishing gear and its range overlaps with areas of intense and generally unregulated fisheries in coastal and offshore environments. Estuarine habitats in which it occurs are affected by development and pollution across parts of its range.

The Ocellated Eagle Ray has low population rebound potential with low fecundity (1-4 pups per litter); long gestation period (12 months) and possibly 2-3 years between pregnancies; late maturation (five years), and an approximate 12-year generation period. Molecular studies demonstrate considerable population structuring for this eagle ray within the Indo-Pacific region, suggesting limited recruitment to exploited populations. Based on inferred population declines of >30% across much of its range, with ongoing threats due to largely unregulated fishing pressure and habitat degradation and destruction, the Ocellated Eagle Ray has a global assessment of Vulnerable. In Australian and Oceania waters (Pacific Island nations) where there is limited fishing pressure and some conservation measures in place through the use of marine reserves, this species is assessed as Least Concern.

Australia (Coral Sea Is. Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia); Bahrain; Bangladesh; Brunei Darussalam; Cambodia; China; Egypt; Eritrea; Fiji; India; Indonesia; Iran, Islamic Republic of; Iraq; Israel; Japan; Jordan; Kenya; Korea, Democratic People’s Republic of; Korea, Republic of; Kuwait; Madagascar; Malaysia (Sarawak); Maldives; Marshall Islands; Micronesia, Federated States of ; Mozambique; Myanmar; New Caledonia; Oman; Pakistan; Palau; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; Solomon Islands; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Taiwan, Province of China; Tanzania, United Republic of; Thailand; Timor-Leste; United Arab Emirates; United States; United States (Hawaiian Is.); Viet Nam; Yemen.

A previous lack of taxonomic resolution of the ‘spotted eagle ray’ group has led to uncertainty over the exact distribution of the Ocellated Eagle Ray, which was previously considered to be an Indo-West and Central Pacific form of the wider ranging White-spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari). The Ocellated Eagle Ray is probably widespread throughout the Indo- West and Central Pacific (White et al. 2010).

There is limited information on the population demography and structure of the Ocellated Eagle Ray. Molecular analysis of mitochondrial markers in the Indo-West Pacific showed considerable population structure between three main regions (East China Sea, Southeast Asia, and Australia) (Schluessel et al. 2010).

The Ocellated Eagle Ray is found in tropical and warm-temperate waters in coastal regions and over the continental shelf from the surface to 60 m depth (Compagno and Last 1999). It sometimes enters lagoons and estuaries and is often associated with coral reef ecosystems (Michael 1993, Homma et al. 1994, Last and Stevens 2009). It is also encountered well offshore in open water (Last et al. 2010). Around coral reef environments, the Ocellated Eagle Ray often enters coral lagoons to feed (for example, Pohnpei Island, Federated States of Micronesia; Homma et al. 1994).

Reproduction is viviparous with aplacental histotrophy (Last et al. 2010). Little information is available on reproductive biology although it is known to have low fecundity, bearing up to four pups per litter (Last and Stevens 2009). Homma et al. (1994) observed three gravid females in the Caroline Islands, two individuals carrying a single embryo and one carrying two embryos. Schluessel et al. (2010) observed a single mature female in Australia with four embryos. Gestation has been reported at 12 months (Michael 1993) and reproductive periodicity may not be annual (Schluessel et al. 2010). Based on a few samples only, the left uterus appears to be functional (Schluessel et al. 2010). These factors combine for a limited reproductive output and generation length is approximately 12 years. This species is reported to reach sexual maturity after 4-6 years (Last and Stevens 2009). Maximum size of 330 cm disc width (DW) has been reported but the species is more commonly observed to about 160 cm DW (Compagno and Last 1999, Last et al. 2010). Size at maturity is reported as >150 cm DW (Schluessel et al. 2010) for females, and 100-110 cm DW (Last et al. 2010) or 130 cm DW (Schluessel et al. 2010) for males. Size at birth is 33-36 cm DW (Last et al. 2010).

Catches taken in the protective shark nets off the beaches of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, occur throughout the year but peak in summer (January and February) (Young 2001). The overall sex ratio is unity but there is a significant association between sex and time of year, with more males than females caught in summer and more females than males in winter. Median DW for each sex is 100 cm (Young 2001). Catches are rare in the southern part of the netted region, an apparent consequence of lower water temperatures (Young 2001).

Details of catches of the Ocellated Eagle Ray throughout its range are scant. Nevertheless, its small litter size, schooling behaviour, inshore habitat and hence availability to a wide variety of inshore fishing gear (beach seine, gillnet, purse seine, benthic longline, trawl, etc.), its marketability, and the generally intense and unregulated nature of inshore fisheries across large parts of the species’ range, pose significant risks to the global population of this ray. The species is probably widely utilised across its range (Compagno and Last 1999) due to its availability to fisheries.

There are a few parts of its range where this eagle ray faces lower levels of threat, including the Maldives (where the exportation of ray product is banned), Australia, and parts of Oceania where human populations are low.

The Ocellated Eagle Ray occurs in coastal inshore waters where fishing pressure is typically very heavy, especially in Southeast Asian waters. The strong swimming nature of this species makes it quite susceptible to a range of fisheries, especially inshore gill net fisheries, which are extremely intensive in some regions (for example, Kalimantan, Indonesia). The species also enters estuarine waters where fishing pressure is extremely high and where (in Southeast Asia at least) pollution is also a major factor for all marine life.

This ray is likely to contribute substantially to numerous inshore artisanal fisheries across its range and regular landing sites are known. In Southeast Asia, the Ocellated Eagle Ray is landed in most countries within its range including: Indonesia (White et al. 2006, Last et al. 2010), Thailand (Vidthayanon 2002, Krajangdara 2014), the Philippines (Compagno et al. 2005), Taiwan (Schluessel et al. 2010), and Malaysia (Manjaji 2002, Last et al. 2010). In Indonesia this eagle ray is commonly taken by demersal tangle net, bottom trawl, inshore gillnet, and to a lesser extent, demersal longline (White et al. 2006, Last et al. 2010). These are all countries where fishing pressure on the inshore environment is intense and generally unregulated.

Extensive trawling in the Arafura Sea (Blaber et al. 2005) and in the Java Sea (Blaber et al. 2009) is likely to affect eagle rays in these regions. Documented large declines in shark and ray catches associated with corresponding increases in fishing effort in the Java Sea (Blaber et al. 2009) are likely to have a large effect on eagle rays in Indonesian waters and may be representative of fishing effects across the region.

In Australian waters eagle rays contribute to bycatch and byproduct in the East Coast Inshore Fin Fish fishery (Harry et al. 2011), and bycatch in the Pilbara Trawl fishery (Western Australian Department of Fisheries 2010). Eagle rays contribute to the minor catch in the ‘Other Sharks and Rays’ category by purse seine and longline in the Tuna Fisheries of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Oceanic Fisheries Program 2010).

A prawn trawl fishery consisting of about nine vessels operates in the Gulf of Papua in southern Papua New Guinea; the fishery is managed under national laws and regulations, and there are some seasonal closures in place. While bycatch reduction devices are not currently in place, there are plans to implement these in the near future (L. Baje, National Fisheries Authority, pers. comm. 2015). Detailed species composition data for the bycatch is currently being investigated (L. Baje, National Fisheries Authority, pers. comm. 2015), however the Ocellated Eagle Ray is caught in low numbers.

Pressure on the inshore environment through artisanal fishing activities in the Bay of Bengal is likely affecting this species. Landings are recorded from India (Theivasigamani and Subbiah 2014), Bangladesh (Hoq et al. 2014), and the Thailand Andaman Sea (Krajangdara 2014).

The Ocellated Eagle Ray is a popular public aquarium species and is collected for the marine aquarium trade. In some localities it is likely to be persecuted when considered a pest of mollusc aquaculture farms, as has occurred with other myliobatid species, for example, the Bat Ray (Myliobatis californicus) (Gray et al. 1997) and annual culls on the Longheaded Eagle Ray (A. flagellum) (Yamaguchi et al. 2005).

While there is some taxonomic uncertainty for this species in the Western Indian Ocean with molecular analyses separating samples from Qatar from the rest of the Indo-Pacific region (White et al. 2010), the following information from that region may relate to the Ocellated Eagle Ray or a conspecific.

Off eastern Africa, it is commonly caught by artisanal fishermen, in bottom set gillnets, trawls, and longlines in Tanzania (Bianchi 1985), by artisanal gillnet fisheries off northern Madagascar (Doukakis and Jonahson 2003), and by hook and line and harpoon off Somalia (Sommer et al. 1996). Eagle rays are also reported from fish markets in the Red Sea (Saudi Arabia; Spaet and Berumen 2015), the Persian Gulf (Iran; Paighambari and Daliri 2012) and Oman (Henderson et al. 2007).

In South Africa, between 1981 and 2000 there was a non-significant increasing trend in catch of this eagle ray in the protective shark nets off KwaZulu-Natal (Young 2001). Of the mean annual catch of 16 animals, 82% were released alive. This species contributed 4.6% to the total batoid catch. It is also taken in small numbers as bycatch in a shallow water prawn trawl fishery that operates off central KwaZulu- Natal (Fennessy 1994).

The Ocellated Eagle Ray is caught for its meat and cartilage in Southeast Asia, including Indonesian and Malaysian waters, and elsewhere (White et al. 2006, Last et al. 2010). It is likely caught for their dorsal skin as well (Roy 2010). The species is also collected for the marine aquarium trade.

Fisheries taking the Ocellated Eagle Ray are generally unmanaged throughout large parts of the species’ range. Attempts to monitor and regulate fisheries in these regions would greatly improve conservation of this and other chondrichthyans. Monitoring (including species-specific catch details) of any directed elasmobranch landings and bycatch are necessary to provide valuable information on the population status of these rays. Fisheryindependent surveys of this and other elasmobranchs are necessary to provide estimates of abundance and biomass.

Of highest priority is the resolution of taxonomic issues to better define the actual ranges of the various forms/species within the ‘spotted eagle ray’ species-complex.

The species is afforded protection on the east coast of Australia in the extensive Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (although only a third of the park is closed to commercial fishing) and the use of turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) in prawn trawl fisheries across northern Australia is mandatory. TEDs are likely to decrease the catch of at least large individuals, as was shown for numerous batoid species by Stobutzki et al. (2002). The spiritual significance of these rays to some indigenous communities has limited traditional catches in parts of northern Australia (Puruntatameri et al. 2001).

In the Maldives, the species is afforded protection in marine reserves created around diving sites in recognition of the high value of sharks and rays to tourism (Anderson and Waheed 2001). The Maldives also banned the export of rays in 1995 and the export of ray skins in 1996. Again, this was to protect the tourism resource (Anderson and Waheed 2001).

A recent reduction in the number of protective shark nets off KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, will help to limit catches in that region. The recreational line fishery in South Africa is managed by a bag limit of one/species/person/ day for unspecified chondrichthyans, which includes eagle rays.

CITATION Kyne, P.M., Dudgeon, C.L., Ishihara, H., Dudley, S.F.J. & White, W.T. 2016. Aetobatusocellatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. www.iucnredlist.org