This bottom-dwelling species typically inhabits sandy or muddy areas with patches of invertebrate cover, at a depth of 15–50 m (49–164 ft).

Often found lying on the bottom buried in sediment, the roughtail stingray is a generalist predator that feeds on a variety of benthic invertebrates and bony fishes.

It is aplacental viviparous, with the embryos receiving nourishment initially from yolk, and later from histotroph ("uterine milk") produced by the mother.

[4][5] Mitchell based his account on specimens caught off Long Island, though did not designate any types, and named the new species Raja centroura, from the Greek centoro ("pricker") in reference to its thorns.

[9] The close relationship between the roughtail and southern stingrays was upheld by a genetic analysis published by Leticia de Almeida Leao Vaz and colleagues in 2006.

[10] The roughtail and broad stingrays are found in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans respectively, and therefore likely diverged before or with the formation of the Isthmus of Panama (c. 3 Ma).

It occurs from the Georges Bank off Cape Cod, Massachusetts following warm ocean waters southward to Florida, the Bahamas, and the northeastern Gulf of Mexico; there are also scattered reports from Venezuela to Argentina and on the Barrier reef in Belize.

[7] This bottom-dwelling species favors live-bottom habitat (patches of rough terrain that are densely encrusted by sessile invertebrates), and also frequents adjacent open areas of sand or mud.

The teeth are arranged with a quincunx pattern into flattened surfaces; each has a tetragonal base with a blunt crown in juveniles and females, and a pointed cusp in adult males.

[3][8] Off Massachusetts, the main prey are crabs (Cancer), bivalves (Mya), gastropods (Polinices), squid (Loligo) and annelid worms.

[19] Known parasites of this species include the tapeworms Acanthobothrium woodsholei,[20] Anthocephalum centrurum,[21] Lecanicephalum sp.,[22] Oncomegas wageneri,[23] Polypocephalus sp.,[22] Pterobothrium senegalense,[24] and Rhinebothrium maccallumi,[25] the monogenean Dendromonocotyle centrourae,[26] and the leech Branchellion torpedinis.

The pectoral fins or "wings" are sold for human consumption fresh, smoked, or dried and salted; the rest of the ray may also be processed to obtain fishmeal and liver oil.

[7] The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the roughtail stingray as of Least Concern worldwide, while noting that as a large, slow-reproducing species it is susceptible to population depletion.

[1] In the northwestern Atlantic, the roughtail stingray is listed under Least Concern; it is not targeted or utilized by commercial fisheries, though inconsequential numbers are captured incidentally in trawls and on demersal longlines.