Stingray Facts

Stingrays are a huge group of over 300 species of fish, which includes skates, sting Stingrays, electric Stingrays, manta Stingrays, eagle Stingrays and guitar fish.
Many Stingrays have flat, almost diamond-shaped bodies, with pectoral fins elongated into broad wings. Guitar fish have longer, more shark-like bodies.
A stingray’s gills are slot like openings beneath its fins.
Stingrays have no bones. Instead, like sharks, they are cartilaginous fish – their body framework is made of rubbery cartilage (you have this in your nose and ears).
Stingrays live mostly on the ocean floor, feeding on seabed creatures such as oysters, clams and other shellfish.
Manta Stingrays live near the surface and feed on plankton.
The Atlantic manta ray is the biggest ray, often over 7 m wide and 6 m long.
Stingrays get their name from their whip-like tail, with its poisonous barbs. A sting from a stingray can make a human very ill.
Electric Stingrays are tropical Stingrays able to give off a powerful electric charge to defend themselves against attackers.
The black torpedo ray can put out a 220 volt shock – as much as a household electric socket.

This entry is filed under Interesting Facts.