Himantura australis
Silhouette: M Kolmann · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
Himantura australis, the Australian whipray, is a type of whiptail stingray found mainly in Australia and south of New Guinea island. This species is a minor bycatch and usually released back to ocean by Australian trawlers, although it might be retained for human consumption by the New Guinean locals.
This species can be distinguished from several characteristics, such as weakly rhomboidal-shaped disc, short preorbital snout, narrowly rounded lateral apices, yellow-pale brown body color, white-colored underside, and fully covered in scattered dark brown speckles or reticulations. The maximum size of the female specimen is 140 cm disc width.
This species distribution range encompasses Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Queensland in Australia, and both Indonesian Papua and the sovereign Papua New Guinea. It inhabits the shallow habitats and ranges from the surface to a depth of around 45 m. It is often accidentally caught by trawlers and fishers in Australian region, but it might be a target and used as delicacy by the locals of Papua New Guinea. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lisbon Oceanarium | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 2 | Sea World | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Aqua Park Shinagawa | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 4 | Melbourne Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Sea Life Sydney Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Seattle Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Cairns Aquarium | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Wild Life Sydney | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | National Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | 63 Seaworld | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 11 | Seattle Marine Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Tropicarium | 🇭🇺 Hungary |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Reticulated Whipray sighting in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, based on 13 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 14th most-seen of the 24 sharks and rays we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report a Reticulated Whipray in Ningaloo Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in April and October, the lowest months. That is one of Ningaloo Marine Park's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 50 mm in June.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Reticulated Whipray sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Ningaloo Marine Park, in our data
Ningaloo Marine Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Reticulated Whipray sightings: about 30% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Dasyatidae
The closest relatives of the Reticulated Whipray that you can see in Ningaloo Marine Park (family Dasyatidae, Whiptail Stingrays) are Reef ray (about 70%), Broad Cowtail Stingray (about 50%) and Dragon stingray (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Reticulated Whipray is recorded against all the sharks and rays logged in Ningaloo Marine Park (13 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
