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Inshore Occurrence and Nuptial Behavior of the Roughtail Stingray, Dasyatis Centroura (Dasyatidae), on the Continental Shelf, East Central Florida John K

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Inshore Occurrence and Nuptial Behavior of the Roughtail Stingray, Dasyatis Centroura (Dasyatidae), on the Continental Shelf, East Central Florida John K Northeast Gulf Science Volume 5 Article 9 Number 1 Number 1 10-1981 Inshore Occurrence and Nuptial Behavior of the Roughtail Stingray, Dasyatis centroura (Dasyatidae), on the Continental Shelf, East Central Florida John K. Reed Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc. R. Grant Gilmore Harbor Branch Foundation, Inc. DOI: 10.18785/negs.0501.09 Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/goms Recommended Citation Reed, J. K. and R. Gilmore. 1981. Inshore Occurrence and Nuptial Behavior of the Roughtail Stingray, Dasyatis centroura (Dasyatidae), on the Continental Shelf, East Central Florida. Northeast Gulf Science 5 (1). Retrieved from https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol5/iss1/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Gulf of Mexico Science by an authorized editor of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Reed and Gilmore: Inshore Occurrence and Nuptial Behavior of the Roughtail Stingray Northeast Gulf Science Vol. 5 No. 1 October 1981 59 INSHORE OCCURRENCE AND offshore (Struhsaker, 1969). He further NUPTIAL BEHAVIOR OF THE predicted a 9-11 month gestation period ROUGHTAIL STINGRAY, with parturition occurring in fall or early Dasyatis centroura winter during the southerly migration. (DASYATIDAE), ON THE Recent captures by surf fishermen of CONTINENTAL SHELF, EAST large female Dasyatis centroura through­ CENTRAL FLORIDA out the year at depths less than 7 m and observations from a research submersible The roughtail stingray, Dasyatis cen­ of breeding behavior on the outer shelf­ troura (Mitchill) 1815, is considered to be edge (80 m), both off central eastern • a warm temperate species occurring from Florida, are reported herein to further Cape Cod and Georges Bank south to Key clarify the behavior and distribution of West (Fowler, 1945; Phillips, 1956; Struh­ D. centroura. saker, 1969), and along the west coast of At 0935on November30, 1978, a male Florida to the northern Gulf of Mexico and female roughtail stingray Dasyatis (Springer and Bullis, 1956; Wahlquist, centroura were observed for a period of 1966). This species is the largest western 10 minutes in an apparent courtship or Atlantic dasyatid ray. Females may reach mating ritual. This observation, using the 208 em disc width and 340 kg weight and JOHNSON-SEA-LINK research sub­ tend to be larger than males (155.9 em and mersible (J-S-LI, Dive Number 615), 144.3 em mean disc width, respectively; took place near the base of a deep-water, Struhsaker, 1969). Oculina varicosa coral bank (Reed, 1980) Struhsaker (1969) puplished a com.., 27 km east of Ft. Pierce, Florida at 27° 32. prehensive study of D. ce'ntroura based 8'N, 79° 58.8'W and at a depth of 80 m. lhe on extensive trawl records from Cape Cod area was a flat sand bottom 20-30 m from to Florida. He reported that the winter the base of the 17 m high Ocu/ina coral populations are segregated by size with bank. A few pieces of limestone with smallest juveniles found in warm, deeper Oculina rubble protuded through the (37-73 m) waters of the outer shelf off the green silty-sand, and patches of the gor­ Carolinas, larger juveniles at intermediate gonian Titanideum frauenfeldii and the depths (27-64 m) from South Carolina to antipatharian Cirrhipathes desbonii cov­ Georgia, and subadults and adults in still ered the bottom. Visibility was 6-8 m, cur­ shallower (4-46 m) live-bottom habitats off rent 5 em/sec from the south, and the tem­ Georgia and north Florida. Mature females. perature was 20.4° C. An externally mount­ occurred in relatively shallow water (12-' ed Benthos® camera with 200 Ekta­ 20 m depths) more often than mature chrome film and a hand held 35 mm single males, and most males (61.1 %) were col­ lens reflex camera were used to record the lected at depths between 29 and 37 m. The event. Thirty-five sequential photographs adult population breeds during winter and were taken of these rays. early spring followed by further migration The pair of rays were first sighted and sexual segregation of the larger fe­ swimming 10-20 em off the bottom. The males, some of which are gravid, to south female was estimated at 150-200 em disc of 29° OO'N. With the warming of water in width with a 50 em tail which had the end the spring, the populations of the various missing. The male was slightly smaller in sizes move inshore into coastal habitats disc width (approximately 150 em) with a and northward until by midsummer the tail length of 2m. These are within matura­ main population is north of Cape Hatteras tion sizes which Struhsaker (1969) pre­ with the juveniles inshore and the adults dicted to be 150-160 em disc width for fe- Published by The Aquila Digital Community, 1981 1 Gulf of Mexico Science, Vol. 5 [1981], No. 1, Art. 9 60 Short papers and notes males and 145-150 em for males. Both rays female occasionally curved her tail, push­ were uniform gray on the pectoral fins, ing against the male's pectoral fin, or slow­ mottled dark and light toward the back and ly undulated her pectoral fins but remain­ on the tail, and white on the belly. ing in position with the body arched (Fig. Initially, the male ray closely followed 1). After several minutes the male swam the female with its snout close to the pos­ out of sight. The female then swam a short terior edge of the female's pectoral fin. The distance and stopped. White scratches male advanced over the left posterior third were observed on the mid-posterior edge of the female's body and followed closely of the female's pectoral fin. These in that position for a short period. Oc­ scratches were not evident in photographs casionally they stopped and stirred up the taken prior to her contact with the male. sediment with their pectorals, obscuring The male reappeared, circled the submer­ the view. The female then proceeded to sible and then returned to the same posi­ settle to the bottom and remained motion­ tion over the female. After a short period less. Her body was arched in the center they swam off together. Copulation was with apparently only the outer edges of the not observed. fins touching the sand. The pelvic fins Slow swimming with the male on the were also only touching along the pos­ female's back is similar to observations by terior edge which caused the base of the Brockmann (1975) of Dasyatis americana. tail to be raised several centimeters off the Breder and Rosen (1966) noted the biting bottom, thus forming a cavity underneath of the female's pectoral fin in the Rajidae the ray. The male moved over the posterior which also may be part of the dasyatid lateral quadrant of the motionless female. mating ritual. The male started moving the a~terior part Table 1 presents data on hook and line of his body against the female's"back in an captures of 17 Dasyatis centroura speci­ apparent nudging or biting motion. The mens by surf fishermen using shark fish- Figure 1. Pair of rough tail stingrays Dasyatis centroura (male, top; female, bottom) observed at a deep-water Oculina coral bank near the shelf-slope break off central eastern Florida (2JO 32.8' N, ygo 58.8' W; 80 m depth). https://aquila.usm.edu/goms/vol5/iss1/9 2 DOI: 10.18785/negs.0501.09 --~------ -- -------------------~ Reed and Gilmore: Inshore OccurrenceNortheast and Nuptial Gulf Behavior Science of theVol. Roughtail 5 No. 1 Stingray October 1981 61 ing rigs off Melbourne Beach, Florida yearly range is 7 .. 5-26.7°C. These records (28°01'N, 80°02.5'W). All specimens were support Struhsaker's (1969) inference that mature adults over 150 em. Beach cap­ temperatures below 15°C are a barrier to tures reveal a year round occurrence of dispersal and may delineate seasonal mi­ large, mature females although most gration patterns. (65%) occurred during the colder months The beach capture of female D. December through March. Two speci­ centroura with embryos in June and July is mens containing embryos (212-240 mm significant in that the predicted fall and disc width) were taken in June and July. early winter parturition period (Struh­ Water temperatures were not taken at saker, 1969) may start earlier in the sum­ the time of inshore captures; however, mer. A gestation period of- 9 to 11 months summer cold upwellings may occur along predicted by Struhsaker (1969) would central and south Florida at various times mean breeding and fertilization may take between April and September. At Mel­ place from September to December based bourne Beach these rays could have ex­ on a June-August parturition time. The perienced water temperatures from 17.0° apparent nuptial behavior of a pair of to 28.0° C, which is near the temperature D. centroura in November falls within the range of 15.0-25.5°C and optimal range of predicted breeding-gestation parturition 15.0-22.0°C given for the species by time span. This indicates that the breeding Struhsaker (1969). Also the rays occurred period for this species may be broader on the deep Oculina reef in November at than previously thought. Also there ap­ the time when monthly temperatures are pears to be a more permanent population the highest on these shelf-edge reefs, of D. centroura off the Florida coast that ranging from 21.2-26.7°C ~ith a mean of does not follow the summer migration to 24.4° C.
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