Daisy stingray

The daisy stingray, Fontitrygon margarita, is a little-known stingray of the family Dasyatidae that lives in shallow coastal waters of West Africa, from Senegal to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It usually reaches about 60 centimetres across, with a maximum recorded disc width of one metre, and has a rounded disc and, in adults, a wide band of dermal denticles along the back. Its best known feature is a large, pearly denticle in the middle of the back called the pearl spine, which it shares with the smaller pearl stingray, a species it has often been confused with. It feeds mainly on shrimp, crabs, bivalves and worms, and bears litters of one to four young. Intensive fisheries along the coast catch it for food, and the once-common ray is now declining and is assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN. Its tail spine is reportedly highly venomous.