Alice White
Stingrays are amazing creatures that amaze with their appearance. They look so unusual that when you see them live for the first time, you don’t immediately understand what they are. Majestically dissecting the water column, they, however, are formidable predators capable of defending themselves.
- From the point of view of zoology, the closest relatives of stingrays are sharks. At the same time, oddly enough, the sawfish also refers to stingrays, although outwardly it does not look like them at all.
- The diet of stingrays is based on various bottom marine animals.
- Most of their species live in saltwater, but some also live in freshwater rivers.
- Stingrays are found in all oceans and seas, from tropical to arctic latitudes.
- Some of their species prefer active hunting for fish, rather than collecting prey from the bottom.
- Biologists classify stingrays as cartilaginous fish.
- In South Korea, stingrays are eaten, and they are usually eaten raw.
- A few centuries ago in Japan, stingray skin was the most expensive material for decorating sword hilts.
- In some countries, people eat stingray egg capsules. Quite a peculiar thing, not everyone would eat it.
- They are also poisonous. A stingray, for example, has poisonous thorns on its tail, and its poison is easily capable of sending a person to the next world.
- The largest stingrays can be up to 6 meters long, while the smallest ones do not exceed a few centimeters.
- The world’s largest stingray species is the sea devils or manta rays. Interestingly, manta ray fry outwardly differs from their adult relatives only in size.
- Stingray stingrays and manta rays spend most of their lives in the water column, but most of their other species swim near the bottom all their lives, looking for food.
- An electric ray is capable of striking with a discharge of electricity with a current strength of more than 30 amperes and a voltage of over 220 volts. One discharge can easily paralyze an adult and a healthy person.
- The largest stingray ever caught weighed two and a half tons.
- Sometimes stingrays are found at considerable depths. The record is about 2.7 kilometers deep! But they usually stay in shallow water.
- While some of them live in cold seas, where the water temperature is slightly above zero, others live in tropical seas, where the upper layers of water often warm up to 28-30 degrees.
- The aforementioned sea devil (manta ray) got its name from the horn-like growths on its head.
- Some stingrays give birth to live cubs, while others lay eggs. Still, others refer to ovoviviparous – offspring can be born both in a shell and without it.
- Some skates have smooth coda, while others have rough, hard, or even spiked.
