Common Eagle Ray (Myliobatis Aquila)
Latin name: Myliobatis aquila
Common name: Common eagle ray
In other languages: E: Aguila marina, F: Aigle Commun, D: Gewihnlicher Adlerrochen
Distribution: Mediterranean, Atlantic.
Habitat: Surface water and soft substrates down to 300 metres.
Behaviour: An oviviparous species that is somewhat pelagic though it is beating the seabed with its wings to expose prey in the sand. These fish are very active swimmers and are more often than not encountered by divers in mid-water, sometimes in singular and on many occasions in file, with their file numbers ranging from three to as many as twelve. Their wing beats are very graceful and the similarity of movement to the mobula mobular is just as exciting.
Diet: Benthic molluscs and crustaceans.
Size: Common: 50 - 110cm, maximum: 260cm.
Shape: This fish with the diamond-shaped body has an unusually long tail, in some cases twice the size of the length of the overall body. A quarter of the way down the tail there is a large venomous spine.