Cownose Stingray

Cownose Ray

Rhinoptera bonasus

Size: to 3 ft across

Habitat: Coastal

Notes:
Unlike the other fishes on this page, this is a free-swimming ray, often found near shore in large schools. They generally arrive en masse late in the season and are otherwise uncommon.

These rays fly through the upper waters on flapping pectoral fins, sometimes even leaping out of the water, although they feed on mollusks near the bottom. They are a favorite food of sharks.

Cownose Ray

Bullnose Rays are similar, but with protruding rounded snouts. Southern Spotted Eagle Rays are closely related. All retain the stinger of their bottom-dwelling cousins.


Type:
shipwreck, dry-dock barge
Depth:
110 ft

This anonymous big rectangular wooden dry-dock barge lies off Asbury Park, out near the edge of the Mud Hole. It is similar to the better-known Immaculata. The hulk of the wreck rises up as much as 10 feet, partially intact, while the upper sides have collapsed into the silty sand. Holes in the main wreckage allow penetration into the dark interior, which is surprisingly barren. A debris field of large rectangular ballast stones, wooden ribs, and rusted machinery extend from the western edge of the wreck, and to a lesser extent all around it. In exceptional late October fifty-foot visibility the view of this wreck from above was impressive, but overall this is not a very pretty site, and it is seldom dived. Good for lobsters, Sea Bass, scallops, and decompression.

Printed from njscuba.net