Key Identification Features
- The pelagic stingray, scientific name Pteroplatytrygon violacea (Bonaparte, 1832), has a very thick, distinctively wedge-shaped pectoral fin disc that is one-third wider than it is long.
- Its uniform dark coloration likely works as camouflage against its featureless open-ocean habitat.
- Each jaw holds 20 rows of distinctive hexagonal, high-crowned teeth, and there are five papillae on the floor of the mouth.
- Juveniles have four circular tubercles at the center of the disk, which often become less distinct in adults.
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