Benthic in nature, the plain maskray feeds mainly on caridean shrimp and polychaete worms, and to a lesser extent on small bony fishes.

This species lacks economic value but is caught incidentally in bottom trawls, which it is thought to be less able to withstand than other maskrays due to its gracile build.

As it also has a limited distribution and low fecundity, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed it as Near Threatened.

[3] In 2008, Last and William White elevated the kuhlii group to the rank of full genus as Neotrygon, on the basis of morphological and molecular phylogenetic evidence.

Furthermore, the individuals sequenced in the study sorted into two genetically distinct clades, suggesting that N. annotata is a cryptic species complex.

[5] The pectoral fin disc of the plain maskray is thin and diamond-shaped with narrowly rounded outer corners, measuring 1.1–1.3 times longer than wide.

[2][3] The tail is short, barely exceeding the length of the disc when intact, and has a broad and flattened base leading to usually two stinging spines.

[7] Like other stingrays, the plain maskray is viviparous with the developing embryos sustained to term by histotroph ("uterine milk") produced by the mother.

[8] The main conservation threat to the plain maskray is incidental capture by commercial bottom trawl fisheries.

Historically, this species may also have been negatively affected by Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese trawlers that fished intensively off northern Australia from 1959 to 1990.

These factors, coupled with the plain maskray's limited distribution and low reproductive rate, have resulted in its being assessed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).