Neotrygon trigonoides
Small, reef-hugging and easy to overlook: find Jenkins Ray across Queensland, Bali, and the Perhentian Islands in water from 21 to 27 °C.
At around 24 cm across, this is one of the smaller stingrays you'll encounter on Indo-Pacific reefs, roughly the size of a dinner plate. Look for a diamond-shaped disc with a pale underside and a dorsal surface marked with a pattern of dark spots or blotches on a lighter ground colour, characteristic of the genus Neotrygon (the blue-spotted stingray group). The tail is slender and moderately long relative to the disc. Its compact size and spotted patterning are the two features that separate it from most other rays sharing the same sandy reef patches.
Jenkins Ray is reef-associated and most often spotted resting or slowly moving over sandy patches between coral heads. Like other small dasyatid rays, it tends to press close to the substrate and can be easy to pass over if you're not scanning the sand. Divers report it as generally unhurried and tolerant of a quiet approach, though it will glide away if closely pressured.
Despite belonging to the same genus as the well-known blue-spotted stingrays, Jenkins Ray is notably small even for the group, making it one of the more compact stingrays a diver is likely to encounter on shallow reef flats across the Indo-Pacific.
Southern Hemisphere records concentrate from September through May, suggesting activity peaks outside the coldest winter months in regions like Queensland. The species is observed across a temperature range of 21 to 27 °C, so in consistently warm tropical areas such as Bali or the Perhentians it can turn up at any time of year.
Reef neighbours a diver could mistake it for. Use the identification notes above to tell them apart.
Most sightings come from Australia and Indonesia, with Queensland and Bali, Lombok and Java standing out as the strongest regions. Malaysia adds meaningful coverage, particularly around the Perhentian and Redang Islands and in West Sabah and Labuan. The Philippines, New Caledonia and Cambodia round out the range, making this a predominantly tropical western Pacific species.
Mapping where Jenkins Ray is logged…
Jenkins Ray is most reliably logged in Australia and Indonesia, especially across Queensland reefs and the Bali, Lombok and Java region. Malaysia's Perhentian and Redang Islands and the waters around West Sabah and Labuan are also strong areas. Smaller but consistent records come from Cambodia's Koh Rong Archipelago, the central Visayas in the Philippines, and New Caledonia.
In southern Australian waters like Queensland, sightings peak between September and May, broadly the warmer half of the year. In consistently tropical regions such as Bali or the Perhentian Islands, where temperatures stay within the species' 21 to 27 °C comfort range year-round, encounters are not strongly seasonal.
Look for a small diamond-shaped ray, about 24 cm across, with a spotted or blotchy dorsal pattern on a pale background. Its compact size is the quickest clue, most other stingrays sharing its habitat are noticeably larger. The slender tail and spotted disc place it firmly in the Neotrygon group.
Jenkins Ray has a disc width of around 24 cm, making it one of the smaller stingrays on Indo-Pacific reefs. That's roughly the size of a large dinner plate, so it is easy to overlook when resting on sandy substrate between coral heads.
Jenkins Ray is not considered dangerous to divers. Like all stingrays it carries a venomous tail spine used defensively, but at this small size and with calm behaviour, the risk is negligible as long as you do not handle or stand on one. Give it space and it will simply glide away.
Across the sites where divers log it, Jenkins Ray is most frequently rated as uncommon, with a smaller proportion of sites rating it rare. Only a handful of sites record it as common. Its small size and habit of resting motionless on sand mean it is probably under-reported, as divers can easily swim past one without noticing it.
Site and sighting data is aggregated from diver logs, iNaturalist and GBIF. For taxonomy and conservation status:
Marble Ray
915 sites
