[4] Like other members of Myliobatidae, this eagle ray is diamond-shaped with broad pectoral fins and a long tail.

Gas exchange is facilitated by their dorsal spiracles, located behind their eyes, and their five ventral gill slits.

[2] Adult males have a small knob on the upper anterior margin.t[6] Intraspecific variation is common which can lead to difficulties in interspecific distinction.

[5] A. wafickii has more transverse lines than A. nichofii (8-10 vs. 7-8 respectively), a lighter dorsal surface, and a shorter tail length, relative to organism size.

[1] Historically it was estimated to occur from India to Papua New Guinea, north to Japan, and south to Northern Australia.

[3] The distinction of A. caeruleofasciatus, which appears in Northern Australia and Papua New Guinea, shrank the historic distribution of A.

There has been sightings in Bangladesh,[8] Bahrain,[4] Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, possibly Maldives, and possibly Mozambique.

The banded eagle ray is a benthic fish that inhabits intertidal, nearshore waters, and coral reefs of tropical and temperate seas.

[3] Wild specimens caught by the Queensland Museum Research team were found at depths ranging from 8-43m.

[9] Due to their wide variety of prey, the banded eagle ray is considered a generalist species.

[2] As benthic feeders, banded eagle rays release nutrients from the sediment via the process of bioturbation.

Electroreception is the process in which the organism receives directional information through the detection of electric fields in the water.

Banded eagle rays exhibit internal fertilization and are ovoviviparous, meaning their eggs develop and hatch within the body, so they birth live pups.

[3] Males possess reproductive organs known as claspers, which are a pair of grooved extensions at the base of the pelvic fin.

The uterus produces a lipid rich histotrophic “milk” which provides the fetus with the necessary nutrition to develop.

When coupled with habitat loss, the likelihood of producing a successful generation is very low and a significant conservation concern.

[4] This unproportionate ratio lowers the chance of successful reproduction, since females are the limiting sex in population growth.

[1] One of the biggest conservation inhibitors is the unknown distribution and poor monitoring of eagle rays as a general group.

Aerial surveys are used to detect eagle rays which are easy to spot due to their unique shape and relatively large size.

Similar deep learning detection models have been tested on sea turtles, dugongs, pinniped, and whales,[14] yielding promising outcomes for the future of marine organism monitoring.