It has been reported off the Pacific coast of Central America from Oaxaca, Mexico to Costa Rica, and also around the Galapagos Islands.

It is usually found in shallow water on soft silty or muddy flats; it is unknown whether this species is tolerant of low salinity like the related chupare stingray (S.

It has a rounded pectoral fin disk and a broadly angled snout with a small protuberance at the tip.

[4] Known parasites of this species include the nematode Echinocephalus janzeni and the cestodes Acanthobothroides pacificus and Rhinebothrium geminum.

[1] 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.