Freshwater whipray
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| Freshwater whipray | ||||||||||||||||
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| Himantura chaophraya Monkolprasit & Roberts, 1990 |
The freshwater whipray, Himantura chaophraya, is a very large freshwater stingray of the family Dasyatidae, found in the Mekong and Chao Phraya river basins in Southeast Asia, eastern Borneo, New Guinea and northern Australia.
Its maximum published weight is 600 kg and the body diameter can be up to 2.4 meters (total size including tail 5 meters). Growth rates are relatively unknown, as this species was only formally described in 1989. It appears to be slow growing, as population doubling time is greater than 14 years.
Its color varies with age, from chocolate-brown in young specimens, to a muddy coloration in older, larger fish.
The freshwater whipray is of little commercial value, except that its winglike fins are sometimes sold as sushi in Japan. Locally, there are fisheries for it; the people of Cambodia catch this fish and boil its fins. There is a growing sport fishery for this species, as the IGFA record is 200 lbs.
The freshwater whipray has the largest barb (stinger) of any stingray. It can be 15 inches long.
Reproduction is ovoviviparous.
[edit] References
- "Himantura chaophraya". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. November 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Photo of the Giant freshwater stingray at National Geographic
