STINGRAYS By: Jonathan Ever since I was little I was interested in the ocean. I always loved visiting the ocean and learning about the creatures living in it. So since I love the ocean so much I decided to do my report on an animal living in the ocean. I decided on stingrays because I think they are very unique. I think they have many cool features. I have seen them in aquariums and I have had great experiences with stingrays. I even got to swim with and pet them. With my experiences with them I thought they would be a good animal to study. I also wanted to know more on these unique sea creatures. Photo 1. This is a picture I took of a stingray at Adventure Aquarium. A stingray is a bottom dwelling marine ray with a flattened diamond shaped body and a long poisonous serrated spine toward the back of the tail. Stingrays hunt by burying themselves in the sand of the ocean floor. Then, any animal on the ocean floor will be picked up off the ocean floor into the stingray’s mouth. Harder animals will be crushed by the stingray’s small rows of teeth. Some animals can be swallowed whole. A stingray’s diet consists of worms, fish, squid, shrimp, crabs, and lobsters. Some stingrays eat clams, mussels, oysters, and snails. Photo 2. This is a photo I took of a stingray swimming. Stingrays reproduce by the male attaching itself to the female and releasing the sperm cells into the female's body. The sperm will meet the egg cell and they will create an embryo. Stingrays give live birth. Juvenile stingrays are called pups. Stingrays will mate when a female will choose a male to mate with. Photo 3. This is a photo of a pup, which is a baby stingray. Stingrays use camouflage to blend in to their surroundings. The color of stingrays can range from olive green, green, brown, tan, dark blue, gray, black, and also any color of spots may or may not be on a stingray. Photo 4. This is a picture of a stingray using camouflage to blend in to its surroundings. There are many different parts of stingrays. The first part is the gills, which help the stingray breathe under water. Spiracles help the stingray breathe when it's buried in the sand. They are on the top of the stingray's head behind the eyes. When their gills are buried in the sand they breathe through the spiracles. Pelvic fins are two fins behind the pectoral fins. Clasper fins are fins that only males have. They carry sperm. Pectoral fins are the two large rounded fins on each side of the stingray. Photo 5. These are the body parts of a stingray. The tail of a stingray can be long or short. It also has a barb sticking out from it. Stingrays have eyes that stick out from the top of their bodies. Stingrays have a mouth located on their bellies. It is ideal for catching bottom feeding animals. Finally, their nostrils are right above their mouths. There are about 170 different species of stingrays in the world. Stingrays spend most of the time on the ocean floor. Rays live mostly in salt water, but there are also species of freshwater rays. Also, some rays can wander from the ocean into rivers. Stingrays also have relatives. Sharks, who also have no bones and are made up of cartilage, are close relatives of stingrays. Photo 6. This is a photo I took of a shark, which is a relative of a stingray. Photo 7. This is a photo I took of a zebra shark. Personally, I think this particular shark looks cooler than other sharks. Stingrays are carnivores and are predators of many animals, but they also have predators, including sharks, big fish, seals, sometimes dolphins, humans, and other stingrays. The largest stingrays can grow up to 6.5 feet and weigh up to 790 pounds. Stingrays can live up to 15-­‐25 years old. Photo 8. This is a picture of a huge fish that could be a predator of a stingray. Photo 9. This is a picture of a dolphin, another predator of a stingray. You can go to see stingrays at aquariums and in the wild. Just don't bother them or they could sting you. You can help stingrays by helping out organizations by volunteering or getting the word out about them. Stingrays are a threat to people because they can injure you with their stinging barbs. Also, sometimes electric rays could possibly kill you. But you can prevent that from happening by not bothering them. If you don't hurt them they won't hurt you. Also if you are in waters where stingrays live, you can shuffle your feet and this will scare them away or warn them you're there so you won't step on one and get stung. This can be called the stingray shuffle. Photo 10. This is another photo I took of a stingray. So, that concludes my report on stingrays. I definitely will still be interested in these cool sea creatures. I will still continue to learn more about stingrays. And someday I might become a marine biologist and study them more. I hope you learned a lot about stingrays and enjoyed my report. Sources "The Ocean," National Geographic, http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com. Rays, by Sally M. Walker. Photos and Illustrations Cover photo: http://bestanimalfacts.com/tag/stingray-­‐2. Stingray pup photo: http://www.zooborns.typepad.com/zooborns/shark-­‐stingray. Stingray camouflage photo: http://www.pbase.com/image/25711546. Stingray body parts: http://www.elasmodiver.com/River_Stingrays_Potamotrygonidae.htm. Big fish photo: http://www.pxleyes.com/photography-­‐picture/4d192080b769c/Big-­‐
Fish.html. Dolphin photo: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/how-­‐smart-­‐ dolphins.html. All other photos taken by Jonathan at Adventure Aquarium. Illustration on second page by Jonathan.