Los Frailes Archipelago is an important reproductive area for one ray species.

The Whitespotted Eagle Ray is a target species for fisheries in this area. Local ecological knowledge of artisanal fishers showed that the species is being targeted with bottom-set gillnets exclusively around the full moon phase, spanning from one to six nights of fishing effort in the area per month when catches are highest (Cordovés et al. 2013; E Rodriguez-Acosta pers. obs. 2025). Generally, fishers in the Margarita Island region avoid this lunar phase when targeting other species of sharks and rays, since the moonlight can reveal the fishing gear (Tagliafico et al. 2012; Cordovés et al. 2013).

A historic study examined Whitespotted Eagle Ray captures (n = 1,352) from 413 fishery trips in this area over 29 months in 2005–2007 (Tagliafico et al. 2012). These bottom-set gillnets (200–500 m length, 8–10 m height) with an overnight soak time of 11–17 h often captured multiple individuals per net, with 23% of trips having no catch, 62% capturing 1–6 individuals, and 15% of trips capturing 7–21 individuals in a net. A subset of 321 males and 846 females were measured and examined. Around one third of females were mature, and of these, 25% were pregnant and 26% were in a post-gravid state, highlighting that this area is important for gestation and potentially for pupping. The average fecundity was 3.1 embryos. The 80 embryos measured ranged 10.1–44.5 cm disc width (DW), with a mean of 31.5 cm DW (Tagliafico et al. 2012). The size-at-birth for the species is 18–36 cm DW (Last et al. 2016), indicating that many of the embryos were near full-term. There was no clear seasonality in the reproductive cycle, but most Whitespotted Eagle Rays (72%) were captured during the first half of the year (Tagliafico et al. 2012). Additionally, local free-diving spearfishers mentioned repeatedly observing Whitespotted Eagle Rays giving birth in this area (Cordovés et al. 2013).

Contemporary evidence shows that pregnant Whitespotted Eagle Rays are still found in this area. Landing surveys in 2014 and 2024/25 found that multiple individuals are still captured together, with a mean of 3.8 and up to nine individuals landed per trip (E Rodríguez-Acosta pers. obs. 2025). Landing surveys (n = 21) between January–December 2014 recorded 80 specimens captured in this area (E Rodríguez-Acosta & LA Zambrano unpubl. data 2025). Most captures (76%) were recorded between January–April. Of the 43 females, 31 (72%) were considered mature based on their body size measurements. The size-at-maturity for females is 135 cm DW (Tagliafico et al. 2012). One third of the adult females were pregnant (E Rodríguez-Acosta & LA Zambrano unpubl. data 2025). Large females, including pregnant individuals, were still being captured in the same area during December 2024 and January 2025 (E Rodríguez-Acosta pers. obs. 2025).