Aetobatus flagellum

Abstract

The Longhead Eagle Ray (Aetobatus flagellum) is a medium-sized (to 90 cm disc width) ray that occurs throughout the Indian and Western Central Pacific Oceans from the Arabian/Persian Gulf to Myanmar and in the waters surrounding Borneo down to the Java Sea. It is benthopelagic in inshore and brackish waters from the surface to depths of 40 m. This species likely has limited biological productivity with an inferred generation length of 7 years. The meat is consumed locally and traded internationally, and the skins from large rays are exported from Bangladesh to Myanmar to be made into accessories. Across the entire species’ entire range, there is a long history of overfishing of inshore populations and fishing pressure remains high, and may be rising. There are no species-specific population time-series, although reconstructed landings data of all whiprays, which are caught in the same gears as this species, from both Malaysia and Indonesia can be used to infer declines of 52–91% over the past three generation lengths (21 years). Its coastal habitat has been degraded by urban development and agriculture. This species has minimal refuge from fishing pressure which is high and increasing across its range resulting in large declines. It is suspected that the Longhead Eagle Ray has undergone a population reduction of 50–79% over the past three generation lengths (21 years) due to actual levels of exploitation, and it is therefore assessed as Endangered A2d.