Maria Allen
Rays are flat fish. They live in all the seas of the world and in the deep sea. They have very flat bodies and long, thin tails. The body, head, and large fins are fused together. So it looks like everything is “one piece”.
Rays can grow up to nine meters long. The mouth, nostrils, and gills are on the underside. On the top are the eyes and the suction holes through which the water penetrates to breathe. On the upper side, the rays can change color to look like the ocean floor. This is how they camouflage themselves. Rays feed on mussels, crabs, starfish, sea urchins, fish, and plankton.
Rays are cartilaginous fish. Your skeleton is not made of bones but of cartilage. For example, we have cartilage in our auricles. There are 26 families with over 600 different species of rays. Stingrays have a venomous stinger at the end of their tail.
Almost all young rays hatch inside the mother’s body, with only one family of rays laying eggs. The stingrays from another family also known as stingrays. They whip their spike across the body and across the head, stabbing their opponents. A poison comes out of the sting.