White-edge Freshwater Whipray - Human Interactions

Human Interactions

The venomous stings of the white-edge freshwater whipray are capable of inflicting excruciating and even fatal wounds on humans. This species is extremely rare, with only about 10 specimens having been deposited in museum collections. Most of its range is subject to heavy fishing pressure; this ray is infrequently caught using fish traps, spears, and bottom-set lines; it is sold for meat and the aquarium trade. Habitat loss and degradation, from pollution, logging, and dam construction, likely poses a greater threat to the survival of this species. In Thailand, dams built on the Chao Phraya have fragmented the resident stingray population and effectively reduced its genetic diversity. Because of diverse threats faced by this ray and the lack of exchange between the different rivers it inhabits, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the white-edge freshwater whipray as Endangered. The Thai government began a captive breeding program for this and other endangered freshwater stingrays at Chai Nat during the 1990s, but by 1996 the program had been placed on hold.