They range across the Indo-Pacific from southern Africa to Hawaii, and are the predominant species of stingray in the inshore waters of the Hawaiian Islands.

This benthic fish also inhabits sandy or muddy flats at depths greater than 15 m (49 ft) in the Eastern Atlantic, from southern France to Angola, including the Mediterranean Sea.

As B. centroura is found in the Atlantic, this suggests that it and B. lata evolutionarily diverged before or with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama (about 3 million years ago).

[7] Bathytoshia lata occurs in the eastern Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific from southern Africa to the Hawaiian Islands [8] and is also found in the Mediterranean Sea [9] with occasional records from Spain to Turkey.

This species is common in coastal bays with mud or silt bottoms, and may also be encountered in sandy areas or near coral reefs.

[11] The broad stingray feeds mainly on bottom-dwelling crustaceans, while also taking polychaete worms and small bony fishes.

[8] Kaneohe Bay appears to be a nursery area for this species, where juvenile scalloped hammerheads (Sphyrna lewini) and it are the dominant predators.

[14][15] The International Union for the Conservation of Nature formerly assessed the broad stingray as Least Concern,[16] but this was upgraded to Vulnerable in 2021 as it is not known what part of its range overlaps with marine protected areas.