The common stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca) is one of the most characteristic rays of the Mediterranean Sea. It lives mainly in shallow coastal waters with sandy or muddy seabeds, often buried in the sand. However, it is also frequently observed in Posidonia seagrass meadows, where it feeds on small fish, crustaceans, and molluscs. One of its distinctive features is the venomous spine on its tail, which it uses solely for defence.

The common stingray typically lives for 10–15 years, but like all rays and sharks, it reproduces slowly and gives birth to only a small number of offspring at a time. For this reason, its populations are particularly vulnerable.

Unlike most fish, which release thousands or even millions of eggs into the water (a tuna can produce up to 30 million eggs and a sea bream up to 1 million during a single breeding season), rays and sharks reproduce through internal fertilisation and produce only a few young at a time.

For example, the common stingray is ovoviviparous: the embryos develop inside the mother’s body and are born alive after a gestation period of approximately four to six months. Typically, four to nine fully formed young are born at a time.

This slow rate of reproduction is one of the main reasons why ray and shark populations recover much more slowly when they decline as a result of overfishing or other human-induced pressures.