Colares stingray

The Colares stingray, Fontitrygon colarensis, is a stingray in the family Dasyatidae that lives in the shallow, brackish waters of the Amazon River estuary in northern Brazil. It has a diamond-shaped pectoral disc about as long as it is wide, a long pointed snout, a whip-like tail more than twice the disc length and a distinctive dark band along the lower lip. Males reach about 63 centimetres and females about 91 centimetres across the disc. In the dry season it stays in coastal bays such as Marajo Bay and in the rainy season it moves offshore, following the salinity changes from the river outflow. Females give birth to one to four young, possibly each year. The species was described in 2004 and named for Colares Island in Marajo Bay, where the type specimen was caught. Brazilian artisanal and commercial fisheries take it deliberately and as catfish bycatch, and with its small range and slow reproduction this has led the IUCN to list it as critically endangered.