The Cortez Round Ray is a member of the Myliobatiformes or Stingray order, Urolophidae or Round Ray family and Urobatis genus. The Cortez Round Ray is normally brown to brownish-gray in color and has a series of widely spaced, dark brown blotches and spots covering its body. The rounded body disc of the Cortez Round Ray has straight front and side margins, and is approximately 1.6 times longer than it is wide. The tail of the Cortez Round Ray is approximately one-half its body length. The underbelly is white.
The Cortez Round Ray reaches a maximum size of just over 1.5 feet in length and 1 foot wide. It is found in the first 100 feet of the water column over sandy and mud bottoms. The Cortez Round Ray stirs the bottom with its pectoral fins in order to dislodge small crustaceans, small fishes, mussels, and worms on which it feeds. In Mexico, the Cortez Round Ray has a broad distribution, being found along the Pacific side of the Baja California peninsula south of Guerrero Negro, throughout the Sea of Cortez, and along the coast of the Mexican mainland to Acapulco; it appears to be absent from around the oceanic islands.
