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The Marble Ray has many names, including two scientific ones: Taeniura meyeni and T. melanospilos. Its common names include Black-spotted stingray, Giant reef ray, Marbled ray, Blotched fantail ray and Round ribbontail ray. It is a very large ray reaching 3 m (10 ft) in length and 1.7 m (6 ft) wide. Round in shape it is covered with a dense pattern of black spots. It is not aggressive but you need to be careful of the spines on the tail. You see the Marble Ray in the Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and East Africa to southern Japan, Micronesia and tropical Australia; and in the Cocos and Galapagos islands in the Eastern Pacific. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, from shallow lagoons to outer reef slopes, and usually has other fish like jacks swimming near them. Carnivorous, the Marble Ray eats bottom fish and crustaceans. Native to: Australia; Bangladesh; Cambodia; China; Cook Islands; Djibouti; Ecuador (Galapagos); Egypt; Eritrea; Ethiopia; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Japan; Kenya; Korea; Kuwait; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Mauritius; Micronesia; Mozambique; Myanmar; New Caledonia; Oman; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Singapore; Somalia; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Sudan; Taiwan, Tanzania; Thailand; Timor-Leste; United Arab Emirates; Vanuatu; Viet Nam; Yemen Notes on diving the Maldives... Further Reading Photo Guide to Fishes of the Maldives by Rudie H. Kuiter, 256 pages (1998) Back to the Maldives Photo Gallery...
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