Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Mating Behavior of Southern Stingrays, Dasyatis americana (Dasyatidae)

ResearcherID

G-4080-2013

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Environmental Biology of Fishes

ISSN

0378-1909

Publication Date

11-2003

Keywords

Batoid, Reproduction, Copulation, Polyandry, Mating system

Abstract

We document in detail the first complete sequence of mating events in the southern stingray, Dasyatis americana, based on observations of four matings (five separate copulations) at Grand Cayman, BritishWest Indies and Bimini, Bahamas. These observations are significant because almost nothing is known about this important aspect of the life cycle of batoids, due to the rarity of encounters with mating animals in natural settings. Similar to mating behavior described in the manta ray, Manta birostris, the mating sequence of D. americana can be characterized as (1) ‘close-following’, (2) ‘pre-copulatory biting’, (3) ‘insertion/copulation’, (4) ‘resting’ and (5) ‘separation’. Additional information gained from these observations includes the fact that (1) two of the females were mated very shortly (i.e. within minutes–hours) after parturition and (2) one of the mating events involved a single female that copulated (unforced) with two males in rapid succession. The latter observation suggests that polyandry and multiple paternity may be elements of the mating system of D. americana.

DOI

10.1023/A:1027332113894

Volume

68

Issue

3

First Page

241

Last Page

245

Comments

©2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Additional Comments

This research was supported by the Guy Harvey Research Institute and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to DDC.

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