Taki's specimens were subsequently lost, and this ray was not formally described until 1987, by Tyson Roberts and Jaranthada Karnasuta, in the scientific journal Environmental Biology of Fishes.

The type specimen is an immature male 23 cm (9.1 in) across, caught from the Mekong in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand.

[2] A 1999 phylogenetic analysis, based on cytochrome b sequences, found that the Mekong freshwater stingray is closely related to an undescribed dasyatid species from the Gulf of Thailand.

There is also a narrow band of minute granular or pointed denticles on the back, which are confined by a pair of parallel lines drawn backward from the spiracles.

The underside is pale with large, irregular orange-yellow patches and a wide orange-red band around the disc margin.

[2] The maximum known disc width of the Mekong freshwater stingray is 62 cm (24 in);[5] it can reportedly reach a weight of 30 kg (66 lb).

[4] However, a greater threat to the survival of this species is widespread habitat degradation within its limited range, from dam construction, agricultural runoff, and industrial pollution.