With a low fecundity of three to four pups per litter and a long gestation of six to 12 months (depending on the geographical zone), this species has a very sensitive life history.

Bull rays appear to be extremely rare throughout the Mediterranean region, and its current population trend is highly suspected to be decreasing.

[1] The bull ray is now part of the 53% of elasmobranchs native to the Mediterranean Sea that are at risk of extinction and require urgent action to conserve their population and habitats.

Bull rays appear to be extremely rare throughout the Mediterranean region and their current population trend is highly suspected to be decreasing (by 80% during the last 45 years according to IUCN).

[citation needed] The full distribution of the bull ray is uncertain but it is known to be found in the Mediterranean Sea,[5] the Black Sea, the eastern Atlantic Ocean between Portugal and Guinea, the Atlantic from north of Saldanha Bay in western South Africa and round the rest of the South African coast into the Indian Ocean up to Maputo Bay in southern Mozambique, also Zanzibar and Kenya.