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Common stingray

Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-16

A smooth, whip-tailed ray with a serrated venomous spine — an estuary and shallow-bay fish that turns up in British summers where nobody is expecting a stingray, and the one British ray that can put an angler in hospital.

Safety

Venomous and spined speciesCan cause serious injury or death

The tail carries a serrated, backward-barbed spine sheathed in venomous tissue, and the fish defends itself by lashing the tail forward over its own back — so the spine reaches hands holding the disc, an arm reaching for the hook, or a leg the fish is laid across. It penetrates footwear. The result is a lacerating puncture with intense envenomation pain, frequent retention of spine fragments, common infection, and, where the torso is struck, a life-threatening injury.

What reduces it: If the hook cannot be reached quickly and safely, cut the trace close and return the fish — a legitimate and often correct outcome for this species. Never lay a stingray across a leg. Control the tail before anything else and keep it away from everybody, remembering it reaches forward. Never attempt to cut off the spine. If stung: out of the water, control bleeding, immerse in water as hot as can be tolerated without scalding, and get urgent medical help. Treat any torso, neck or abdominal wound as an emergency and do not remove an embedded spine.

Worse when:

  • The angler does not know Britain has stingrays and handles one like a small thornback.
  • Unhooking while seated with the fish across a thigh.
  • Wading barefoot or in soft shoes over shallow sand and mud where rays lie buried.
  • Warm summers in the south and west, when the species is present inshore.
  • Being far from medical help, where a wound needing cleaning and antibiotics goes untreated.

Fish welfareCan cause injury needing treatment

A Vulnerable species with small litters, handled by people who are frightened of it. Fish are killed unnecessarily out of fear, have their spines cut off, or are dropped and abandoned on a bank while somebody decides what to do.

What reduces it: Decide in advance: if the hook is not easily reachable, cut the trace close and return the fish. That is safe for the angler and better for the ray than any attempt to subdue it. Never cut off the spine. Support the disc, keep air exposure short, and return the fish flat.

Worse when:

  • Anglers unfamiliar with the species, which in Britain is most of them.
  • Shore captures where there is nowhere safe to work.

Precautions that always apply here

  • Handle spined and venomous species with the spines controlled. Know which local species have them before you fish, not afterwards.
  • If a hook goes past the barb into a person, cut the line, leave the hook where it is, and get medical help. Pulling it back out does far more damage than pushing it through under proper care.
  • Carry a charged phone in a waterproof case, or another means of calling for help.
  • Wet your hands before touching a fish. Dry hands strip the protective mucus layer that keeps infection out.
  • Support the fish's weight along its body, keep it out of the water for as short a time as possible, and hold it over something soft.

The common stingray is the British ray that is genuinely dangerous to handle, and the one most anglers do not know occurs here at all.

IT IS NOT A RAJA AND IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE ONE. The disc is smooth, rounded and almost featureless — no thorns, no bucklers, no spotted pattern, usually a plain olive, grey or brown. The tail is not the stiff thorned tail of a thornback but a long, thin, tapering WHIP, much longer than the body, with NO DORSAL FINS on it.

AND PARTWAY ALONG THAT TAIL IS A SERRATED SPINE. It is a genuine venom apparatus: a barbed, backward-serrated spine covered in venomous tissue, capable of driving through a boot or a hand. The wound is a laceration plus envenomation, it is severely painful, and it can require hospital treatment. A stingray defends itself by lashing the tail forward and over its own back, which means the spine can reach almost anything holding the fish.

IT IS AN ESTUARY AND SHALLOW-BAY FISH. Warm shallow water over sand and mud — estuaries, harbours, sheltered bays and the tidal reaches where a coarse angler might not expect anything with a spine. It is a summer visitor to British waters and is reported most often from the south and west.

IF YOU CATCH ONE, IT IS THE ONE BRITISH RAY WHERE THE CORRECT ANSWER MAY BE TO CUT THE TRACE.

Identification

FishingHQ holds no photograph of this species whose identity and licensing it can vouch for, so it is not showing one. Misidentified fish photographs teach identification wrongly, and a picture with an unchecked caption would be worse than none. The identification points below are what to look at instead.

Scientific name
Dasyatis pastinaca
Family
Dasyatidae
Water
Saltwater, Brackish
Conservation status
Vulnerable
Regions
Britain & Ireland, Western Europe, Mediterranean, West Africa, North Africa
  • A LONG THIN WHIP TAIL WITH NO DORSAL FINS, much longer than the body. Every Raja ray has a shorter, stiffer, thorned tail carrying small dorsal fins. This is the first and clearest difference.
  • A SERRATED SPINE partway along the tail, sometimes with a second. This is the venom apparatus and its presence identifies the fish beyond argument. Approach with the assumption it is there even if you cannot see it.
  • The disc is SMOOTH and rounded — no thorns, no bucklers, no prickles. Running a hand over a thornback and over a stingray is an immediate and unmistakable difference.
  • Plain colouring: olive, grey, brown or fawn above with no spotting or streaking, and white below.
  • The snout is bluntly pointed and the disc is broader than it is long, giving a rounded, diamond-ish outline rather than the angular disc of a skate.
  • Found in shallow, warm, sheltered water — estuaries, bays and harbours over sand and mud — rather than on offshore banks.

Size

Typical
40–70 cm across the disc, 3–10 kg.
Large
Over 80 cm across the disc and 15 kg is a large one in British waters.

Exceptional: Around 1.4 m across the disc is the reported upper end for the species, and fish of that size are exceptional in British waters though commoner further south.

Lifecycle and reproduction

Unlike the skates and rays of the family Rajidae, stingrays do not lay eggs. The common stingray is aplacental viviparous with histotrophy: the embryos develop inside the female, first on yolk and then nourished by a nutrient-rich secretion produced by the uterine lining. The female gives birth to small numbers of live, fully formed young — typically a handful per litter — after a gestation of some months. Newborn stingrays already carry a functional spine. Growth is slow and maturity comes at several years, and the small litters make the species' reproductive output low even by elasmobranch standards.

Mating and pupping take place in shallow, warm, sheltered inshore water, which is the same ground the species feeds on and the same ground anglers and bathers use. Litters are small and produced annually at most. Because British waters sit towards the cool northern edge of the species' range, occurrence here is temperature-dependent and concentrated in warm summers in the south and west, and the British population should be understood as the fringe of a distribution centred well to the south rather than as a self-contained stock.

Feeding and senses

A bottom feeder on soft ground, taking crustaceans, molluscs, polychaete worms and small fish. It excavates prey by flapping its disc to blow sediment away — a behaviour that leaves visible pits on tidal flats — and then traps and crushes what it uncovers. That excavating habit is why the species is associated with soft sand and mud rather than hard ground, and why it will find a bait buried by tide that other species would miss.

Scent and electroreception. The ampullae of Lorenzini are particularly relevant in this species because it hunts prey buried in soft sediment and cannot see the mouth's own work — a buried worm or bivalve is located by the electric field of its tissue, then excavated. The eyes sit on top of the disc with spiracles behind them, allowing the fish to draw clean water for respiration while lying buried in sediment, which is exactly how a stingray comes to be stood on.

Through the year

A warm-season visitor to British waters, reported principally in summer and early autumn in the south and west, and absent or very scarce in cold years. Occurrence is temperature-driven, and warming inshore waters are the reason reports have become more frequent rather than an increase within a stable population. Elsewhere in its range, further south, it is present through more of the year.

Distribution

Eastern Atlantic from the southern North Sea and the British Isles south to west Africa, throughout the Mediterranean and into the Black Sea. Occupies shallow, sheltered soft-bottom ground — estuaries, bays, lagoons and harbours — generally in less than 60 m and often in a very few metres of water. British waters are the cool northern fringe of the range, with occurrence concentrated in warm summers in the south and west. Listed by the IUCN as Vulnerable, reflecting decline particularly in the Mediterranean where inshore soft-bottom habitat is heavily used.

This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.

Why anglers care

Not a target species in Britain in any organised sense, but an increasingly reported summer capture from estuaries, harbours and shallow bays in the south and west — and therefore a species anglers meet by accident, which is the worst way to meet a venomous animal. Its significance to FishingHQ is almost entirely safety: an angler who has never been told that Britain has stingrays will handle one like a small skate. Further south, in the Mediterranean and off west Africa, it is a more regular part of inshore catches and is also relevant to waders, bathers and divers rather than only to anglers.

Handling and returning

TREAT THE TAIL AS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS. The spine is serrated, backward-barbed, covered in venomous tissue, and mounted partway along a whip tail that the fish can lash forward over its own back — so it reaches the hands holding the disc, the leg it is laid across, and the arm reaching for the hook. It will drive through a wellington boot. IF THE HOOK CANNOT BE REACHED EASILY AND SAFELY, CUT THE TRACE AS CLOSE AS YOU CAN AND RETURN THE FISH. That is a legitimate and often correct outcome here in a way it is not for most species. If the fish must be handled, control the tail first, keep it away from everybody, and do not lay the animal across a leg. Never attempt to remove or cut off the spine. IF SOMEONE IS STUNG: this is a medical emergency and not a fishing inconvenience. Get them out of the water, control bleeding, immerse the wound in water as hot as can be tolerated without scalding, which is the standard first aid for the heat-labile venoms of this group, and get urgent medical help — spine fragments and barbs frequently remain in the wound, infection is common, and penetrating chest or abdominal wounds are life-threatening. Do not dismiss a puncture because it looks small. On welfare, the usual ray rules apply: no swim bladder, support the disc, minimal air exposure — but not at the cost of a person being stung.

Yes, Britain has stingrays — and the spine is not a thorn

Most British anglers do not know this species occurs here, and that ignorance is the hazard.

IT IS A SUMMER VISITOR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. Estuaries, harbours, sheltered bays and shallow soft ground in warm months. Reports are concentrated in the south and west and have become more frequent as inshore waters have warmed. It is not abundant and it is not a target, which is exactly why it is met by accident.

THE IDENTIFICATION TAKES ONE LOOK AT THE TAIL. Every Raja ray — thornback, blonde, spotted, small-eyed — has a relatively short, stiff tail carrying thorns and small dorsal fins. A stingray has a long, thin, tapering WHIP much longer than its body, with NO dorsal fins on it, and a serrated spine partway along.

AND THE DISC IS SMOOTH. No thorns, no bucklers, no prickles, and no spots or streaks. A hand run over a thornback and over a stingray is not a subtle comparison.

THE SPINE IS A VENOM APPARATUS, NOT A THORN. It is serrated with backward-facing barbs and sheathed in venomous tissue. It is designed to go in easily and come out badly, and it will penetrate a wellington boot. A ray's thorns cut; this punctures and envenomates.

THE FISH LASHES FORWARD, WHICH IS THE PART PEOPLE GET WRONG. A stingray defends itself by whipping the tail up and forward over its own back. The spine therefore reaches the hands holding the front of the disc, the arm reaching in for the hook, and the thigh the fish has been laid across. There is no safe grip that assumes the tail stays behind the fish.

SO THE CORRECT ANSWER IS OFTEN TO CUT THE TRACE. If the hook cannot be reached quickly and safely, cut as close as you can and return the fish. For most species that is a compromise. Here it is frequently the right decision, and nobody should feel they have failed by making it.

NEVER TRY TO REMOVE THE SPINE. Cutting off a stingray's spine is sometimes suggested and is both cruel and dangerous — it puts a hand at the exact point of maximum risk to mutilate an animal that is about to be released.

AND DO NOT LAY ONE ACROSS YOUR LEG. This is how people are stung through the thigh. Control the tail, keep the fish flat and away from everyone, or do not handle it at all.

IT IS ALSO A HAZARD TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FISHING. Stingrays lie buried in shallow sand and mud with only eyes and spiracles clear, in exactly the water people wade through. Where the species is common, shuffling the feet rather than stepping is standard advice: a buried ray that feels a foot slide against it moves away, and one that is stepped on does not.

NOTHING HERE STATES WHETHER THIS FISH MAY BE KEPT, what minimum size applies, or whether it is protected where you are fishing. Several British skates and rays are protected in some administrations and not in others, the designations are revised, and the answer differs between England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland. Ask the fisheries authority for the water you are fishing before you go.

Authoritative guidance

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat, identification characters and biology of the fishes of the British Isles and north-west Europe, including the skates and rays.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

If somebody is stung

A stingray injury is a medical emergency and it should be treated as one from the first second. Nothing in this section is a substitute for professional medical care, and the single most important instruction is to get it.

THERE ARE THREE SEPARATE PROBLEMS and they need separate attention.

THE WOUND ITSELF. The spine is serrated with backward-facing barbs, so it lacerates on the way out as well as puncturing on the way in. Wounds bleed, and a wound to a limb can bleed significantly.

THE VENOM. It causes immediate, intense, out-of-proportion pain that typically peaks within an hour or two, along with swelling and sometimes systemic effects such as nausea, faintness, sweating and cramping.

AND WHAT IS LEFT BEHIND. Fragments of the spine and of its sheath very frequently remain in the wound. This is why infection is common and why a wound that appears to be closing may not be.

WHAT TO DO. Get the person out of the water first — a faint or a collapse in shallow water is a drowning risk and the pain can be severe enough to cause one. Control bleeding with direct pressure.

THEN HEAT. The standard first aid for this group of venoms is immersion of the wound in water as hot as the casualty can tolerate WITHOUT SCALDING, for as long as it takes to control the pain, topping it up as it cools. The venom is heat-labile and hot-water immersion is widely recommended by medical and marine-envenomation guidance for this reason. Test the water on your own skin first: a person whose limb is in pain and partly numb is not a reliable judge of temperature, and scald injuries on top of a puncture wound are a genuine risk.

GET MEDICAL HELP REGARDLESS. Retained spine fragments usually need removing, the wound usually needs proper cleaning, tetanus status needs checking, and antibiotics are commonly required because marine wound infections are aggressive.

TREAT ANY PUNCTURE TO THE TORSO, NECK OR ABDOMEN AS LIFE-THREATENING and call emergency services immediately. A stingray spine is long enough to penetrate the chest or abdominal cavity, and these injuries have killed people. Do not remove an embedded spine from the torso — stabilise it and let a hospital deal with it.

WHAT NOT TO DO. Do not apply a tourniquet. Do not cut the wound. Do not attempt to suck out venom. Do not assume that because the puncture looks small it is minor — the size of the entry wound tells you nothing about the depth, the retained fragments or the envenomation.

AND THE PREVENTION IS THE SAME SENTENCE AS ON THE REST OF THIS PAGE. If you cannot reach the hook safely, cut the trace. Never lay the fish across a leg. Control the tail before anything else, and remember that it reaches forward.

Authoritative guidance

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat, identification characters and biology of the fishes of the British Isles and north-west Europe, including the skates and rays.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where to go next

How it is caught

What these connections rest on (1)

Practitioner consensus 1 connection

Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.

  • Ledgering

    A statement about how a species is fished, which is angling convention rather than biology and is labelled as such.

    • Sea Angler Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary UK sea angling practice as reported by practitioners, including ground, seasonal timing, bait and method convention.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • General angling website restatements of established technique Various (Credible secondary source)Relied on for: Widely restated descriptions of species behaviour and regional angling practice, recorded as consensus rather than as scholarship.Background and mechanism onlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Where it lives

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

  • Coastal lagoons

    A distributional claim about where a species is found, which rests on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.

    • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the sharks, skates and rays of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Estuary

    A distributional claim about where a species is found, which rests on the standard regional reference works rather than on angling report.

    • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the sharks, skates and rays of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Understanding this fish

What these connections rest on (2)

Scientific evidence 2 connections

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

  • Decapod crustaceans as prey

    A dietary claim recorded at GROUP level against a modelled prey concept, because the sources describe the prey as a group and selecting a species for the edge to point at would assert a precision the evidence does not carry.

    • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the sharks, skates and rays of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Polychaete worms as prey

    A dietary claim recorded at GROUP level against a modelled prey concept, because the sources describe the prey as a group and selecting a species for the edge to point at would assert a precision the evidence does not carry.

    • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat association, identification and biology of the sharks, skates and rays of the British Isles and north-west Europe.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic characters, habitat and depth range as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Told apart from

What these connections rest on (1)

Authoritative guidance 1 connection

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Thornback ray

    Two records a reader must hold together, because the animals are confused with one another in the hand and the consequences of getting it wrong are not symmetrical.

    • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British sharks, skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Safety reading

What these connections rest on (2)

Authoritative guidance 2 connections

Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.

  • Dangerous animals where you fish

    A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.

    • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British sharks, skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Venomous and spined fish

    A hazard the species genuinely presents, joined to the record that explains how to manage it.

    • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British sharks, skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Environment and conservation

What these connections rest on (1)

Scientific evidence 1 connection

Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.

  • Climate change and shifting fish distributions

    A conservation claim about a species with a documented assessment, joined to the environmental issue it exemplifies.

    • The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category and the population assessment behind it for the species concerned.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
    • Cefas science, advice and data on marine and freshwater environments Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Government fisheries body)Relied on for: UK marine fisheries science: survey data, distribution and elasmobranch stock monitoring in UK waters.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

Check the rules before you fish

Fishing laws, bylaws, access rules, seasons, bait restrictions and permitted methods vary by location and can change. Check the current rules from the relevant authority and the water you intend to fish before fishing.

Check with:

  • Current national or regional law for where you are fishing
  • Current local bylaws
  • The relevant fisheries authority
  • The landowner, club or fishery whose water it is
  • Any restrictions specific to the species or the method you intend to use

Sources for this page

  • The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe Macmillan, 1969 (Reference work)Relied on for: Distribution, habitat, identification characters and biology of the fishes of the British Isles and north-west Europe, including the skates and rays.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Diagnostic identification characters, family placement, depth range and distribution as set out in the FAO species identification sheets for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • Shark Trust identification guides and angling best practice The Shark Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Identification characters separating the British skates and rays, and the handling, unhooking and release practice asked of anglers.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
  • The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The global Red List category for this species and the population assessment behind it, as published in the assessment dated 04 August 2020. Recorded with its date because a Red List category is revised, and a status with no date is a claim with no shelf life.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly

How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.

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