At a glance

Length

Disc up to about 1.5 m across; the tail longer again

Depth

Sand flats and channel floors, from the shallows down

Diet

Crustaceans, molluscs and worms sifted from the sand

How to recognise it

A rounded disc that ripples along its edges, eyes on top, the mouth and gills underneath, and a long whip of a tail with the barb near its base.

Where we meet them

On the sand at the Hulhumalé Shark Tank, where more than a hundred stingrays gather on our signature dive.

Best timeYear-round.

Behaviour

Much of the day is spent half-buried in sand, eyes showing. They swim by rippling the edges of the disc. The barb is purely defensive — it is used only when a ray is pinned or stepped on.

Diving with them

Stay off the bottom and never settle on the sand. Approach from the front or side, never from above and behind over the tail, and keep your fins up.

Status & protection

We don’t put a species name on Hulhumalé’s rays without a proper identification — several whiprays look alike from above. What is certain is that stingrays across the region are under pressure from bottom fishing and habitat loss.