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The common name, "Coffin Ray" does not refer to any deadly attributes possessed by this rather flabby looking electric ray. Instead, it refers to the shape of specimens that have died and dried out in the sun.

This species can be found in shallow water down to below 200 m. Their bland brown colouring can vary from pale pink to chocolate, sometimes with a blotchy or sandy pattern.

The Coffin Ray is usually found buried in sand or silt, sometimes in very shallow water.

Their hunting method is to wait for prey to approach within striking distance. When a crab or fish comes too close, the ray flexes it's powerful back muscles, arching up high out of the sand and sucking the passing morsel into their mouth.

Like all members of the Torpediniformes order of rays, this species can generate and deliver a powerful electric charge.

This ability is used as a defence mechanism, and may be used, at times, to shock prey. While stunned, the potential meal can be consumed without fear of retaliation or injury.

Since this animal is capable of delivering a severe electric shock, as many divers and anglers have found, it should be left alone.

Coffin Rays are found camouflaged beneath a layer of sand/silt with just their eyes and spiracles protruding.

To tempt prey to within striking range some Numbfish have a small black worm, the Feathered Leach (Branchellion sp.), that lives on the eye or spiracle. Its colour is in stark contrast to the sand and it performs a constant swaying dance which attracts fish to the ray.

This is a commensal, not a parasitic, relationship as both the ray and worm benefit, with the ray having food attracted to within striking distance and the leach feeds off the ray's body fluids.