---
title: Ornate Eagle Ray (Aetomylaeus vespertilio)
scientific_name: Aetomylaeus vespertilio
common_name: Ornate Eagle Ray
taxon: Eagle ray
conservation_status: CR - Critically Endangered
published: 2026-08-04T21:32:44.567Z
updated: 2026-08-20T17:09:45.883Z
tags: Ornate Eagle Ray, Aetomylaeus vespertilio, Eagle ray, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/rays/eagle-ray/ornate-eagle-ray
---

# Ornate Eagle Ray (*Aetomylaeus vespertilio*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Eagle ray (*Myliobatidae*)
- **Size:** up to 3.8 m (1.8 m disc)
- **Depth:** 1-110 m
- **Diet:** Molluscivore
- **Activity:** Diurnal
- **Rarity:** Very Rare
- **Habitat:** Sandy bottoms, lagoons and reef edges
- **Reproduction:** Live-bearer, Gonochoric
- **Conservation status:** CR - Critically Endangered

## How to recognise it

- back patterned with dark bands, rings and reticulations
- long snout, wings drawn out to sharp points
- no venomous spine at the base of the tail

A large ray patterned unlike any other in the region: the back carries dark bands, rings and reticulations over a pale gray-brown ground, a maze-like design that runs out to the wing tips. The disc spans about 1.8 m (6 ft) and total length with the tail reaches 3.8 m (12 ft). The snout is long and rounded, the wings drawn out into sharp points, and the tail is thin and whip-like. Unlike most of its relatives, it carries no venomous spine at the tail base.

It swims over sandy bottoms, in lagoons and along reef edges from shallow water to about 110 m (360 ft), flying with slow beats of the wings and stopping to excavate buried molluscs and crustaceans, which it crushes with plated tooth rows. Sightings are exceptional - this is one of the least frequently recorded large rays anywhere in its range, and the IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered on the strength of how rarely it turns up in surveys and how often it appears as bycatch. A Red Sea encounter is worth photographing and reporting: the pattern is individual enough to identify single animals between sightings.

## Also known as

- **English:** ornate eagle ray, Reticulate Eagle Ray
- **German:** Schmuck-Adlerrochen
- **Spanish:** Raya águila reticulada
- **Portuguese:** Raia-ornata
- **Dutch:** Sierlijke adelaarsrog
- **Czech:** siba síťkovaná
- **Japanese:** アミメトビエイ, Amimetobiei
- **Chinese:** 網紋圓吻燕魟, 網紋鴨嘴燕魟, 蝠狀無刺鱝
- **Russian:** Узорчатый орляк
- **DA:** Pyntet andenæserokke
- **FI:** kuviokotkarausku
- **TH:** ปลากระเบนนกรางกระแส

## Scientific synonyms

- *Aetobatus reticulatus* Teng, 1962
- *Aetomylaeus reticulatus* (Teng, 1962)
- *Aetomylus vespertilio* (Bleeker, 1852)
- *Myliobatis vespertilio* Bleeker, 1852

## Range

Mozambique

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/rays/eagle-ray/ornate-eagle-ray)*
*Updated: August 20, 2026*