The Main Characteristics of the Ray Fish Essay

Rays are primarily slow-moving, bottom-dwelling fishes of the oceans, the rays are close relatives of the sharks. Both, including skates, belong to the same class of fish, Chondrichthyes-vertebrates whose skeleton is composed of cartilage, not true bone. The terms skate and ray are often used interchangeably. Both fishes belong to the taxonomic order Batoidei, but the skates are classified in the separate suborder Rajoidei. Skates and rays occur in nearly all the oceans of the world, from shallow areas to depths of more than 8,900 feet . There are from 300 to 350 species of skates and rays. Most are flattened and more or less disk- or diamond- shaped, with large, winglike pectoral fins. The tail is generally slender and sometimes long and whiplike. In many species the tail has at least one sharp, venomous spine. Most of the skates and rays propel themselves with a graceful undulating movement of their pectoral fins, taking in water for respiration through large openings on the upper surface of the body, rather than through the mouth as sharks do. Rays vary in size from a few inches in length to the giant mantas that may grow to about 23 feet wide and weigh more than 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms). Their animal food includes all types of invertebrates that live in the sand or mud of the ocean floors. Rays bear their young live. They are classified into two suborders Torpedinoidei, which includes electric rays, numbfishes, and torpedoes and Myliobatoidei, the whip-tailed, butterfly, sting, eagle, cow-nosed, and devil rays, or mantas. The electric rays can emit a powerful electrical charge that is used in defense and in capturing prey. They can stun even large and active fish, and a shock from a large electric ray can fell a human being. The butterfly rays are among the most handsome and graceful of the rays. Their pectoral fins resemble the wings of a butterfly. On the tails of stingrays are long,...