With flat, wide bodies, stingrays may not look like fish, but they are! They belong to a group of fish called elasmobranchs. This means that instead of bones, they’re supported by skeletons of cartilage. There are around 200 different stingray species in total such as eagle rays, round rays, butterfly rays, deepwater rays and others. Stingrays are closely related to sharks.
Stingrays use a super set of senses to search for food. They use their electro-sensors to locate their next meal. Their eyes are on the topside of their body and their mouth can be found underneath, so in the darker depths or murky rivers this electromagnetic sense is especially useful for searching for prey. They eat clams, shrimp, and mussels.
Stingrays flat bodies allow them to dig in and hide from predators on the sandy ocean bottom. The main predators of stingrays are sharks, other large fish, seals, and sea lions. Their long tails usually have a spine and venom. They use this venom to protect them from predators.
Stingrays are solitary. Many stingrays like to live by themselves and only come together for breeding and migration. In the wild, a stingray can live on average to be 15 to 25 years old.
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