Description
The Coral Sea stingaree has a diamond-shaped pectoral fin disc 113–121% wider than long, with nearly straight leading margins and rounded outer corners. The tip of the fleshy, triangular snout protrudes past the disc. The eyes are rather large, and are followed by teardrop-shaped spiracles with rounded to angular posterior rims. There is a skirt-shaped flap of skin between the nostrils, with a weakly fringed posterior margin whose corners are extended into small lobes. The medium is of medium size and contains 7–9 papillae (nipple-like structures) on the floor; the 5–7 papillae in the middle may have multiple tips. The lower jaw also bears a patch of minute papillae. The teeth number 32–35 rows in the upper jaw and 30–39 in the lower jaw, and are small with roughly rhomboid bases. The five pairs of gill slits are short. The pelvic fins are small and rounded posteriorly; males have blunt claspers.
The tail measures 76–85% as long as the disc and is flattened at the base; there may be a subtle skin fold running along each side. A serrated stinging spine is placed atop the tail about halfway along its length, with a low dorsal fin just in front. The tail ends in a short, deep, leaf-shaped caudal fin. The skin is devoid of dermal denticles. Rays found in the Coral Sea are generally light gray or brown above with tiny dark dots, while those off Queensland tend to be darker brown above and unpatterned. The dorsal and caudal fins are brown with blackish margins. Juveniles are usually more densely spotted than adults, and have a dark stripe along the dorsal midline of the tail. The underside is white, sometimes with dusky lateral disc margins and/or a few dark blotches on the tail. The largest known specimen is 48 cm (19 in) long.
Read more about this topic: Coral Sea Stingaree
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.”
—Paul Tillich (1886–1965)
“God damnit, why must all those journalists be such sticklers for detail? Why, they’d hold you to an accurate description of the first time you ever made love, expecting you to remember the color of the room and the shape of the windows.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“I was here first introduced to Joe.... He was a good-looking Indian, twenty-four years old, apparently of unmixed blood, short and stout, with a broad face and reddish complexion, and eyes, methinks, narrower and more turned up at the outer corners than ours, answering to the description of his race. Besides his underclothing, he wore a red flannel shirt, woolen pants, and a black Kossuth hat, the ordinary dress of the lumberman, and, to a considerable extent, of the Penobscot Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)