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Cownose ray
Conservation status
Near Threatened
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Chondrichthyes Order: Rajiformes Family: Myliobatidae Genus: Rhinoptera Species: R. bonasus
Binomial name
Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchill, 1815)

The cownose ray (Rhinoptera bonasus) is the most common type of ray found in the Chesapeake Bay. The rays grow rapidly and male rays are about 35 inches (900 mm) in width and weigh 26 pounds (12 kg). Females are 28 inches (700 mm) in width and weigh 36 pounds (16 kg).

When the ray is small it grows inside its mother, positioned with wings folded over its body. It also gains nutrition from the mother's uterine secretions. It also breaks through what we call a breech birth-tail first. The cownose ray is 11 to 18 inches (280 to 460 mm) in width at birth. When it gets older it can grow to 45 inches (1.1 m) in width, and weigh 50 pounds (23 kg) or more. It is brown-backed with a whitish belly. Ovoviviparous.

Cownose rays don't have a particularly distinctive coloration but its shape is recognizable. Its eyes peer out spookily from the sides of the broad head. It also has a set of remarkable teeth plates designed for crushing clams and oyster shells.

One can also be stung by a cownose ray. The stinger is on its tail, close to the ray's body, and it doesn't usually inflict damage. The stinger is known as the spine which is pointed and it has teeth lining its lateral edges.

The cownose ray feeds upon clams. It is a voracious eater. They also eat oysters, hard clams and other invertebrates. Rays move as a group regardless of time during feeding. This group's synchronized wing flaps stir up sediment and allows the rays to find buried clams and oysters. When they locate their prey they place it in their jaws and crush it.

• Barker (2005). Rhinoptera bonasus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a lengthy justification of why this species is near threatened
• "Rhinoptera bonasus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. August 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.