CORTEZ ROUND STINGRAY

Not just Shark Pictures: Elasmodiver contains photos of sharks, skates, rays, and chimaera's from around the world. It began as a simple web based field guide to help divers find the best places to encounter different species of sharks and rays but it has slowly evolved into a much larger project containing information on all aspects of shark diving and photography. There are now more than a thousand shark pictures and sections on shark evolution, biology, and conservation. There is a large library of reviewed shark books, a constantly outdated shark taxonomy page, a monster list of shark links, and deeper in the site there are numerous articles and stories about shark encounters. Elasmodiver is now so difficult to check for updates, that new information and pictures are listed on an Elasmodiver Updates Page that can be accessed here:

WHAT'S NEW?

Shark picture - green sawfish

ELASMODIVER EXPANDED

If you're looking for a broader range of marine life pictures the following links represent a new area that contains pictures on other marine organisms and on marine habitats. This expansion of Elasmodiver is in its first stages but will eventually include pages on everything from sea stars to nudibranches. Creating this portal will take time and for now it consists of a token offering of fish pictures. Please return regularly to enjoy the progress.

FISH PICTURES

Behavior: Forages during the day for worms and crustaceans.

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous. Gravid females exude milk from the wall of the uterus.

Observations:

Photographs: Mulege, Baja ,

exico

. Playa El Burro, Baja, Mexico.

Similar species: Round stingray – Urolophus halleri.

Reaction to divers: Moves away upon close approach.

Diving logistics: This species is easily found whilst snorkelling over sand or near rocky reefs in the southern Sea of Cortez . I encountered 5 individuals within about ten minutes whilst snorkelling off the beach at Mulege. They are also commonly seen in this area whilst diving and I encountered them at Punta Conception at about 50ft. This site is dived by Cortez Explorers based in Mulege. South of Mulege at Playa El Burro I snorkelled off the sandy beach and encountered many (perhaps a hundred or more) in around 3 to 8ft of water. The encounters took place in October.

Update: At Playa Conception in February I found hundreds of Cortez Round Stingrays over the course of 3 days. The water temp was a chilly 65 degrees.

Other diving locations submitted by readers:

References and further reading:

Reef Sharks and Rays of the World. Scott W. Michael. Sea Challengers.