[4] It usually inhabits sandy substrates, sometimes near coral reefs, and is an infrequent visitor to the Amazon River estuary.

The tail is relatively short and slender, without fin folds but having subtle ventral and lateral ridges towards the base.

[7] This has given rise to the theory that both the amphi-American Himantura and the river stingrays are descended from euryhaline ancestors living along the northern coast of South America prior to the formation of the Isthmus of Panama.

This interpretation was initially controversial, as parasitological evidence suggests that the river stingrays are most closely related to Pacific round rays in the genus Urobatis.

[9][10] The chupare stingray is taken as bycatch by artisanal and commercial fisheries using nets and hook-and-line, and also serves as a subsistence food source.