SCUBA News~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello divers. Lots of offers for you today. First of all our code just for SCUBA News readers - get 5% off liveaboard diving when booked with divebooker.com using code SCUBATRAVEL5. But you need to be very quick, it runs out at the end of this month. However, the good people at Divebooker are now offering us some great Black Friday deals. Buy a diving gift voucher for 50% less than its value. And up to 50% off liveaboards - see our selection below.
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Liveaboard Diving Offers: Dive for Less - and even bigger discounts with our exclusive codeNovember always brings the best diving deals - and this year is no exception, plus you will also get up to 10% off your next trip automatically. And don't forget our extra 5% off code SCUBATRAVEL5. What are you waiting for, dive in.
Blotched Fantail Ray is creature of the monthThe Blotched Fantail Ray has many names. I've always known it as the Marble Ray, some books call it the Blackblotched Stingray whilst Wikipedia refers to it as the Round Ribbontail ray. Its scientific name is now Taeniurops meyeni, a revision of the previous Taeniura meyeni.
Giant with venomous spinesWhatever you call it, the first thing you notice about the Marble Ray is its great size. It can be 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 which in the past have fatally wounded divers attempting to ride on its back.
Where to see themYou see the Marble Ray in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It occurs in a wide range of habitats, from shallow lagoons to outer reef slopes, and often has trevallies swimming near them waiting for foraging opportunities. Carnivorous, the Marble Ray eats bottom fish and crustaceans, stirring up the sea bed as they feed. They venture as deep as 500 m down.
The species have refuge in areas where coral is healthy and fishing pressure is lower including the northern Red Sea and the Maldives. It is seen frequently inshore by divers in Oman at the Mussandam Peninsula and the Daymaniyat Islands. Up to 7 pupsThe female bears live young: the eggs are kept in the body of the female where the embryo develops. Up to seven pups hatch from the egg capsules and are born soon afterwards.
VulnerableThe ray is classified as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This means that it is at high risk of endangerment in the wild. Overall, fishing pressure is significant over most of the species' range throughout Asia and across its Indian Ocean range (India, East Africa etc). Additional pressure exists on its habitat in that region due to destructive fishing practices (dynamite fishing) and run-off impacting coral reef systems, the main habitat of the species.
Further Reading: Class: Elasmobranchii > Order: Myliobatiformes > Family: Dasyatidae > Genus: Taeniurops > Species: Taeniurops meyeni Diving news from around the World
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