How does the south American freshwater stingray see?
The south American freshwater stingray (Potamotrygon motoro) is a shark or ray in the order Myliobatiformes. Its eyes belong to the vision type Shark, ray and warm-eyed ocean predator.
Measured in this species: colour. Measured colour or sharpness: a measured receptor set or acuity in this species; other dials come from relatives or group defaults. Every value below carries its evidence level and sources; nothing is typed by hand.
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What stands out
- It has one receptor class for colour, so it sees brightness but no hue.
- Its sharpest vision resolves 3.98 cycles per degree: the finest stripe pattern it can tell apart from grey.
- It stops seeing flicker at 29 Hz, against 60 Hz for people in this dataset, so fast motion looks choppier to it.[7][8]
The six dials
Evidence levels: how the tiers work. "Measured" means a value measured in this species; "Estimated" values come from a close relative or an eye-size formula.
| Dial | Value | Evidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour | Colour receptors 1 receptor class: 499 nm (MWS (green)) measured in this species | Measured (not re-verified) | [1] |
| Sharpness | Acuity 3.98 cycles per degree median of 27 relatives in class Elasmobranchii: Alopias superciliosus, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, Carcharhinus leucas, Carcharhinus melanopterus, Carcharhinus plumbeus, Centroscymnus coelolepis | Group default | [2][3][4] |
| Field of view | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Sharp zones (foveas) | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Night vision | No value in the catalogue. | ||
| Motion (flicker fusion) | Flicker fusion frequency 29 Hz median of 19 relatives in class Elasmobranchii: Platyrhinoidis triseriata, Carcharhinus plumbeus, Mustelus canis, Squalus acanthias, Carcharhinus acronotus, Sphyrna lewini | Group default | [5][6][7][8][9] |
Related animals
- Australian butterfly ray same vision type
- Blue-spotted stingray same vision type
- Common stingaree same vision type
- Cownose ray same vision type
- Estuary stingray same vision type
- Pink whipray same vision type
More sharks and rays: all sharks and rays with measured vision data.
Sources
- Murphy MJ, Westerman EL. 2022. Evolutionary history limits species' ability to match colour sensitivity to available habitat light. Proc R Soc B 289:20220612. Electronic supplementary Table S1. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0612
- Caves EM, Sutton TT, Warrant EJ, Johnsen S 2023. Measures and models of visual acuity in epipelagic and mesopelagic teleosts and elasmobranchs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. zenodo.org/records/8251016
- Caves EM, Fernandez-Juricic E, Kelley LA (2024) Ecological and morphological correlates of visual acuity in birds. J Exp Biol 227(2): jeb246063. Supplementary Table S1.. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246063
- Claes JM et al. 2014. Photon hunting in the twilight zone: visual features of mesopelagic bioluminescent sharks. PLoS ONE 9:e104213, Dataset S1. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104213
- Horodysky A, Brill R, Crawford K et al. (2013) Comparative visual ecophysiology of mid-Atlantic temperate reef fishes. Biology Open
- Haarlem CS, Hynes C, Jackson AL, Mitchell KJ, O'Connell RG, Healy K. 2026. Pace of ecology drives the tempo of visual perception across the animal kingdom. Nature Ecology & Evolution (doi:10.1038/s41559-026-02994-7). Figshare dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475. doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30556475
- Healy K, McNally L, Ruxton GD, Cooper N, Jackson AL. 2013. Metabolic rate and body size are linked with perception of temporal information. Animal Behaviour 86:685-696. Table 1. doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2013.06.018
- Inger R, Bennie J, Davies TW, Gaston KJ. 2014. Potential biological and ecological effects of flickering artificial light. PLoS ONE 9(5): e98631. Table 3. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0098631
- Lafitte A, Sordello R, Legrand M, Nicolas V, Obein G, Reyjol Y. 2022. A flashing light may not be that flashy: A systematic review on critical fusion frequencies. PLoS ONE 17(12): e0279718. S10 File (CFF database). doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279718
Every value cites its sources (all sources). Data: catalogue-v1, built 2026-09-29. Accuracy notes: how accurate is this?