Marine life  /  Sharks & rays  /  Ocellated eagle ray
Reviewed 2026-09-06
Species entry

Ocellated eagle ray

Aetobatus ocellatus

White-spotted, duck-billed, and usually going the other way.

Size
To 300 cm disc width
Depth
5–50 m
Habitat
Open water over slopes, walls and sand
Active
Daylight
Range
Indo-Pacific
Rarity
Bali
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
SP-01
ocellated eagle ray · full body · habitat
4:3 · min 2400px

To about 3 m across the disc, dark blue-grey above covered in white spots and rings, white below, with a long duck-like snout, angular wings and a whip tail several times the body length carrying one to five venomous spines at its base. Indo-Pacific fish were separated from the Atlantic Aetobatus narinari relatively recently, so older records here carry that name.

It digs molluscs and crustaceans out of sand with the snout and crushes them with plate-like teeth, and cruises along slope edges between feeding areas, often in small groups. It is wary and rarely allows a close approach; the working method is to stay low, stop, and let it pass. Recorded from about 5 to 50 m.

Where to find:

LocationRarity Best monthsDepthHabitat
Bali Indonesia editorial estimate
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Year-round
5–50 m
Open water over slopes, walls and sand
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea editorial estimate
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Year-round
5–50 m
Drop-offs and sand flats
Australia Australia editorial estimate
3 stars of 5, a good week should turn one up
Year-round
3–30 m
Sand flats and reef edges, tropical north
Anilao Philippines editorial estimate
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Year-round
5–45 m
Open water over reef slopes
Dauin & Dumaguete Philippines editorial estimate
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Year-round
5–45 m
Sand flats and reef edges
Lembeh Strait Indonesia editorial estimate
4 stars of 5, two or three a season
Year-round
5–45 m
Open water over reef slopes and sand

Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.

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