"Rays"-Batoidea

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Eagle_ray_jb.jpg

There are a few different types of Batoidea and most people just class them all as stingrays. The truth is that they're not all stingrays, only a small portion of Batiodea are stingrays. 

They come from the same family as sharks (Elasmobranchii) and looking at them, you can see the similar traits and characteristics.

They're split into four main groups; Stingrays, Skates, Electric rays and Sawfish.

My favourite are the stingrays, they tend to have the wide pointy wings and look as though they're flying across the sea. They can jump above the water just like whales do (breaching).

Most rays live in more tropical parts of the sea and stay close to land, except the manta ray which often swims in open oceans.

They only feed on small organisms on the ocean floor like shell fish, crustaceans, and even plankton.

I think the prettiest ray is the spotted eagle ray.

They're sometimes called the Duckbill ray because they have a long snout which resembles a duck's  bill used for digging in sandy sea floors for food, they're black or dark blue with white spots that are unique to every animal.

Spotted Eagle rays have longer tails than other rays and two to six venomous barbs at the base of the tail.

These rays can grow up to 5 metres long and have a wingspan of 3 metres wide!

One thing I don't like about these rays is that they like to feed on my favourite little octopi.

They've been known to use a method to dig for food called the pelvic thrust where they'd move their pectoral fins up and down quickly causing disturbance in the surrounding area.

These animals seem to mate extremely violently, the male or several males will find a female, bite her on her back and flip her over, mate for 30-90 seconds then leave. The female carries the eggs inside her, where they are laid internally and after about a year long gestation period she gives birth to live young.

Just like us, their main fear in the water is the sharks who love feeding on fresh ray, and their other predator is us, catching them for aquarium displays and not thinking about their threats.