Stingrays’ Lost Their Sting

Last month, scientists identified two new species of stingrays in the Amazon, which lack the stinging barb common in most of their relatives, leading experts to describe them as more of a pancake than a fish.

The two species -H. rosai and Heliotrygon gomesi- have existed in the pet industry for years under trade names, say scientists, but only last month were researchers and local fishermen in the Nanay River, Peru able to declare two new species. Even more impressive, these two new species also have led scientists to create an entirely new stingray genus.

Scientists believe these newly identified species are remnants of a time when the Pacific Ocean covered parts of the amazon, over tens of millions of years ago. When the seawater retreated, species like the stingless stingrays were forced to adapt to freshwater.

You can read more about this discovery at the National Geographic Website or in Zootaxa (where the study was originally published).