Cownose Ray

Rhinoptera bonasus

The cownose ray has a kite-shaped body that varies in color from brown to olive green with a whitish belly. Adults have:

• A long, brownish-colored tail that looks like a whip.
• A squared, indented snout that resembles a cow's nose.
• Can have a wingspan of up to 3 feet long and weigh as much as 50 pounds.

Where does the cownose ray live?

Cownose rays visit the Bay from May through October, traveling as far north as Kent Island. They travel in large schools near the surface of the water. In late fall they leave the Bay for coastal waters to the south.

What does the cownose ray eat?

Cownose rays feed on mollusks, including oysters, hard clams and soft-shelled clams.

• They find their prey by flapping their fins against the bottom sediments to uncover the shellfish. The rays then use their powerful dental plates to crush the mollusks' shells open.
• Cownose rays have been known to destroy underwater grass beds and cause considerable losses to commercial clam and oyster harvests.

How does the cownose ray reproduce?

Cownose rays are unique because they give birth to live young.

• Mating takes place in late summer, before the rays leaves the Bay for the winter.
• A single pup is born to each female around mid-June of the following summer.
• At birth, the pup is about 11 to 18 inches long.
• The adult female is usually re-impregnated within 10 days of the pup's birth.

Other facts about the cownose ray:

• Some cownose ray schools can be quite large; one witnessed near the mouth of the Bay was estimated to contain nearly five million rays!
• Flaps its “wings” like a bird to swim through the water. As it swims, the tips of the fins break the surface and can look like shark fins. Many "shark sightings" in the Bay are actually cownose rays.
• Even though they are not sharks, cownose rays are still potentially dangerous because they have a poisonous spine at the base of the tail.
• Captain John Smith learned the hard way about the cownose ray's spine. During his 1608 voyage he was stung so severely that his crew thought he was going to die. The site on the Rappahannock River where he was stung is still known today as "Stingray Point."