What Is a Stingray?

This cute little creature that looks like a piece of ravioli pasta is a baby majestic stingray, just one of the hundreds of types of sea rays found in shallow tropical waters around the world.

All rays belong to the superorder Batoidea, which includes sawfish, stingrays, electric rays, skate, and guitarfish (which look like a shark).

We can describe rays as flattened sharks with flat, wide bodies. Rays have no bones and are cartilaginous fishes, which are types of fish related to sharks. The major difference between a cartilaginous and a bony fish is the skeleton makeup. A bony fish has a bone skeleton, and a cartilaginous fish has a skeleton form of cartilage.

As its name suggests, the stingray can sting, but not all rays are stingrays. The scientific name of a stingray is Myliobatiform.

There are 500 species of rays divided into over 30 subtypes around the globe. In 2011, they discovered a new ray in the Amazon rainforest. This ray is named the pancake ray because of its similarity to a breakfast pancake.How a Ray Is Born

Stingrays are ovoviviparous, pronounced “ow-vow-vai-vi-puh-ruhs,” meaning that the eggs develop and hatch inside the mother’s body. The embryos absorb nutrients from the yolk sac, and the mother provides additional nutrients in the form of a rich, milky substance—a uterine fluid produced in the mother’s uterus.

Embryos are retained in their eggs within the mother’s body until they are ready to hatch, and then they stay within the mother’s body until she feels safe enough to give birth. A young ray is called a pup, and mothers can give birth to as many as 10 pups in one litter. Each pup can range from 6 inches (15 cm) to over 12 inches (30 cm) long.

Research has shown the gestation period of stingrays is not set, as it is discovered that ray pregnancy time varies between 125 and 226 days. The average life span of the ray is 15 to 25 years.

The size of full-grown stingrays can be up to 14 feet (426 cm) in length. The smallest ray is the electric ray, which is only 4 inches (10 cm) across and weighs about one pound.

Stingrays are born fully formed with a built in defense system that includes a serrated-edged spine or barb with venom in it that enables them to survive on their own once they have left the safety of their mother’s body.

During mating seasons, which is not the same time for all rays, a male impregnates the female using a modified pelvic fin as he bites the female rays back. It’s thought that even though most rays tend to bite the female during a mating period, biting does not always result in copulation.

Here is a tiny quizzical beb stingray up close quietly judging all ur life choices.

Fun fact: Those things that look like legs are actually called claspers — and they’re actually PENISES! Yup, stingrays have two penises. Baller.