Ray is any of a group of nearly 550 species of fishes. These fishes include eagle rays, guitarfish, manta rays, sawfish, skates, stingrays, and electric rays.
Most rays live on the sea floor. They feed on such bottom-dwelling creatures as clams, oysters, shellfish, and certain fishes. Many species of rays dwell in coastal waters, but a few live at great depths. Manta rays live in the upper waters of the open sea and feed on small sea animals and on tiny organisms called plankton.
Rays, like sharks, have a boneless skeleton made of a tough, elastic substance called cartilage. Rays also resemble sharks in having slotlike body openings called gill slits that lead from the gills. However, a ray’s gill slits lie under the pectoral fins (fins behind the gill openings), and a sharkâs lie on the sides of its head. Most rays have a flat, disklike body. Among many species, the pectoral fins form large “wings.” Guitarfish and sawfish have a more sharklike, torpedo-shaped body.
Loading the player...Spotted eagle rays
Ray eggs, unlike those of most other fishes, are fertilized inside the female’s body. Skates lay the fertilized eggs. The eggs of all other rays hatch inside the female. She then releases the live young.
