The ocellated electric ray is named for the distinctive large eyespot on the middle of its disc, consisting of a black or yellow center surrounded by concentric rings.

Its dorsal coloration is otherwise highly variable, ranging from plain to ornately patterned on a light to dark brown background.

American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert described the ocellated electric ray in an 1890 article for the scientific journal Proceedings of the United States National Museum.

Their account was based on a female specimen caught by the United States Fish Commission steamer USS Albatross in 1888.

Jordan and Gilbert named the new species ommata (Greek for "eyed") in reference to the distinctive spot on its back, and assigned it to the genus Discopyge.

[2][3] In 1948, Henry Bryant Bigelow and William Charles Schroeder created the new genus Diplobatis for this species based on then-unique subdivision of its nostrils.

[3][5] The dorsal coloration of the ocellated electric ray is extremely variable, with the only constant being the large ocellus ("eyespot") in the middle of the back.

The center of the ocellus is black or yellow, which is surrounded by concentric, alternating dark and light rings that may be either continuous or broken.

[1][7] The favored habitat of this ray is sandy bays, though it can also be found over rubble bottoms, rocky terrain, and rhodolith beds.

[7] Parasites documented from this species include the tapeworms Acanthobothrium dollyae, A. maryanskii, and A. royi,[9] and the fluke Anaporrhutum euzeti.

Its mortality from fishing has not been quantified but is thought to be high, considering that trawling operations in the Atlantic are known to take Diplobatis species in large numbers.

Given the restricted range of this species and the intensity of trawling within its habitat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as least concern.