Disc weakly rhomboidal; preorbital snout moderately elongate with weak apical lobe. In juveniles, the tail behind sting is subcircular with deep longitudinal ventral groove and prominent mid-lateral ridge, in adults, it is weakly depressed. Dorsal surface mainly uniformly coloured (occasionally with dark flecks in specimens smaller than 25 cm DW). Disc margin sometimes paler dorsally; ventral disc uniformly whitish, not black edged; in adults, darker dorsal surface of tail sharply demarcated from paler ventral surface; in neonates and juveniles, dark tail with conspicuous white saddles, its distal portion usually almost uniformly dark

Biology

Length: It reaches a maximum size of 62 cm disc width (DW), males are mature at 40 cm DW, and size at birth is 15-17 cm DW.

Gestation Period: Unknown

Litter Size: Unknown

Life Expectancy: Unknown

Diet: Unknown

Habitat and distribution

Habitat: This species is known to occur in soft bottom habitats.

Distribution: The Arabian Banded Whipray is endemic to the Arabian Seas region, occurring only in the Gulf.

Depth: 0-60 m

Landing sites: 

Commercial Value

This species is commonly discarded or retained as low value incidental catch. 

Threats

The main threat to this species is incidental capture in trawl and gillnet fisheries. Marine habitats in the Gulf are experiencing high levels of disturbance and quickly deteriorating due to major impacts from development activities (including dredging and reclamation), desalination plants, industrial activities, habitat destruction through the removal of shallow productive areas and major shipping lanes which is likely to impact this species.

References

Moore, A.B.M., McCarthy, I.D., Carvalho, G.R. and Peirce, R. (2012) 
Species, sex, size and male maturity composition of previously unreported elasmobranch landings in Kuwait, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Emirate. Journal of Fish Biology 80: 1619-1642.

Sheppard, C., Al-Husiani, M., Al-Jamali, F., Al-Yamani, F., Baldwin, R., Bishop, J., Benzoni, F. and Dutrieux, E. (2010) 
The Gulf: A young sea in decline. Marine Pollution Bulletin 60: 13-38.

Last, P.R., Manjaji-Matsumoto, B.M. and Moore, A.B.M. (2012)
Himantura randalli sp. nov., a new whipray (Myliobatoidea: Dasyatidae) from the Persian Gulf. Zootaxa 3327(1): 20-23.