Shovelnosed Ray

Shovelnosed Ray
Aptychotrema vincentiana
Up to 1.7m
A ray named for the guitar-like shape of its long flat body and shovel-like shape of its pointy snout.

After a visit to the Port Jackson shark breeding waters at Christies Beach, I was lingering on the journey back to the shore. I crawled through the sand in the warm shallows, in a daydream, and suddenly I came face to face with an underwater aeroplane tail. I fanned myself to an abrupt stop and glimpsed a strange, ugly face ogling me.
"Guys!!! Some kind of weird stingray!" I surfaced and yelled to the rest of the group.
Of course, as soon as I looked back it was gone