Page 337 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

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HUMAN IMPACT
STINGRAY CITY

Southern stingrays are not
aggressive toward humans and
only sting if stepped on or feel
threatened. Their stings are used
as defense against sharks, their
natural predator. At a site in
Grand Cayman in the Caribbean,
called “Stingray City,” they have
become used to humans and
can be hand-fed. Visitors wade,
swim, and dive among these
graceful creatures.

ORDER MYLIOBATIFORMES ORDER TORPEDINIFORMES
Blue-spotted Atlantic Torpedo
Stingray Torpedo nobiliana
LENGTH Nearly 6 / 2 ft
1
Taeniura lymma
(2 m) including tail
1
LENGTH Up to 6 / 2 ft WEIGHT Up to 200 lb
(2 m) including tail
(90 kg)
WEIGHT Up to 65 lb DEPTH To 2,600 ft
(30 kg)
(800 m)
DEPTH Shallow water DISTRIBUTION Atlantic, Mediterranean
to about 65 ft (20 m)
DISTRIBUTION Indian Ocean, western Pacific, Electric rays use special organs to
Red Sea
produce electricity, which they
discharge to stun their prey or attack
Since it is active in the daytime, divers predators. The Atlantic torpedo is the
often see this beautifully colored ray largest electric ray and can produce
on coral reefs. It is most often spotted a shock of up to 220 volts—enough
lying on sandy patches under coral to stun a person. It can easily be
heads and rocks. Often, its blue-striped recognized by its circular, disklike
tail sticks out and gives away its hiding body and short, thick tail ending in
place. Large, bright blue spots cover a large, paddle-shaped fin. It is a
the disk, which is greenish brown. ORDER MYLIOBATIFORMES Most of its swimming time is spent uniform dark brown or black on the
Like all stingrays, it has a venomous in open water, although it is also back and white underneath. The
spine on its tail. As the tide rises, these Spotted Eagle Ray commonly seen inshore. It appears to electric organs are in the ray’s wings,
rays move in groups into shallow “fly” through the water as it moves its or pectoral fins, and like a battery, they
water to hunt for invertebrates such as Aetobatus narinari pointed “wings”—enlarged pectoral can store electricity. When hunting,
mollusks, crabs, shrimp, and worms. WIDTH (WINGSPAN) fins—gracefully up and down. Besides the Atlantic torpedo wraps its wings
Up to 10 ft (3 m) the beautiful patterning of spots on its around its prey before stunning it.
WEIGHT dorsal surface, another distinctive
Up to 500 lb (230 kg) feature of the spotted eagle ray is its
DEPTH head, which ends in a flattened, slightly
3–260 ft (1–80 m) upturned snout that resembles a duck’s
DISTRIBUTION Tropical waters worldwide bill. It has a long, thin whiplike tail
with a venomous spine near the base.
Often solitary, spotted eagle rays also These rays are very agile and can
move around in huge shoals of at twist and turn to escape predatory
least a hundred individuals in open sharks. Sometimes, small groups splash OCEAN LIFE
waters—a truly spectacular sight when around at the surface, making
silhouetted against a sunlit surface. spectacular leaps out of the water.
Unlike most other rays, the spotted Why they do this is not clear, but it
eagle ray is a very active swimmer. may be to help dislodge parasites.