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Southern stingray (Dasyatis americana)

Southern Stingray

Anyone who wants to see a southern stingray (Dasyatis americana) anywhere near Baltimore will have to go to the National Aquarium because this square-shaped ray cannot tolerate the brackish water in the upper Chesapeake. The southern stingray is fairly common, however, near the mouth of the bay. Rays move by undulating their giant winglike fins, a kind of underwater slow-motion flight. They are armed with a poisonous spine near the end of their whiplike tails.


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