Stingray

Design

The eyes of the stingray are on the top of its body, while its mouth is on the underside of its body. This makes it impossible for a stingray to see what it is eating. Therefore, the stingray relies on its keen sense of smell and the electroreceptors that help it identify its food.

Features

• The stingray is most recognized for its large, wing-like pectoral fins that make this creature look like it is flying through the water.
• A stingray’s coloring often reflects the shading of the seafloor. Some species are spotted or shaded.
• The stinger of the stingray is actually an extension of its spine. The entire spine is covered with a layer of skin where venom is concentrated.
• The stingray has a greatly depressed disc (roundish, flat body).

Fun Facts

• Ancient Greek dentists used the venom in the stingray’s spine as an anesthetic.
• If the stingray loses its stinger, it can grow another one in its place.
• This species lacks dorsal fins.
• The stingray respires (“breathes”) by drawing water through a small hole, or spiracle, behind each eye and expelling it through gill slits located under the disc.