Smalleye stingrays are the largest marine stingrays on record, reaching disc widths of up to 222 cm, and yet almost nothing is known about them. Scientists from the Marine Megafauna Foundation have for the first time used photo IDs to study this elusive animal in southern Mozambique, one of the only locations where it is regularly seen in the wild. Their findings were published in the scientific journal PeerJ.

MMF Principal Scientist Chris Rohner has led a groundbreaking study into preferred whale shark habitats using ‘robot sharks’ and comparing their digital movements to the movements of real whale sharks. Chris and his team found that the real whale sharks preferred the coastal waters of southern Mozambique (between Zavora, Tofo and Pomene), where the water was cooler, richer in chlorophyll-a and shallower than in the semi-randomly moving robot sharks' habitat.