Stingrays. Stingray stingray (sea cat) Stingray sea cat structural features

For the most part, the inhabitants of the Black Sea are harmless and do not pose a threat to people, which makes it one of the safest in the world. But some of them can cause serious harm to health, even death. Like the Black Sea stingray (or catfish), which has a large poisonous spike and immediately uses it in case of danger. Graceful and dangerous fish is a frequent visitor to coastal waters and his meetings with people are regular, so it’s worth getting to know him better.

Spreading

Black Sea stingray (official name Dasyatis pastinaca ) - one of 88 members of the family, loves warm subtropical waters and is widely represented in the Eastern Atlantic, from the shores Baltic Sea to the West Coast of Africa. This is the only species that lives in the Azov and Black seas, preferring the latter.

Being a bottom-dwelling fish, it prefers sandy and muddy bottoms, where it partially buries itself for camouflage purposes. It is mainly found at shallow depths, up to 60 meters, but can migrate deeper, depending on the season and water temperature. It swims in shallow waters and to rocky shores, and sometimes swims into river mouths.

Description

The Black Sea stingray has a wide and flattened body, without bones (only cartilage, the animal belongs to cartilaginous fish), rounded diamond-shaped, with a slightly protruding snout. On the upper (dorsal) part there are eyes, behind which there are white sprays through which water enters the gills. They bigger size and when opening/closing it gives the impression that the fish is “blinking”. In the lower part there are gill slits and a mouth with two rows of blunt small teeth in the form of plates, from 30 to 40 pieces in each.

The stingray's body ends with a tail (in adults it is almost equal to length body, in young animals - 1.5 times more), in the central part of which a jagged spike grows, reaching 15-20 centimeters in length. With the help of ducts, poison is supplied to it, which is injected into the victim’s body during the blow. It is precisely because of this characteristic feature fish and received the prefix name “stalker”. At times the spikes break, so there may be 2 or 3 of them.

The thorn prick is very painful, and the symptoms resemble poisoning snake venom: malaise, cardiac arrhythmia, edema, vomiting. While not considered lethal, they can be fatal if applied to the area of ​​vital organs. Such cases are reliably known. Recovery takes several days, but injection wounds take a long time to heal.

Important! As usual, the Black Sea stingray does not attack humans, avoiding crowds of people or noise, and is shy. But if you step on it or “drive it into a corner”, trying to pull it ashore, it hits you with its tail immediately, and the force of the blow and the sharpness of the spike allows you to pierce clothes and light shoes.

The lower part of the stingray is light, dirty white, the upper part is dark, gray-brown and dirty green-olive. The body is smooth and not covered with scales. On average, its dimensions reach 60-70 centimeters in length (width is not much greater than length) and 8-10 kilograms in weight, and together with the tail from a meter, but in warmer and southern seas There are 20-kilogram specimens of 2-2.5 meters. Females are usually larger than males.

Nutrition

By the nature of its feeding, the Black Sea stingray is a predator. Its diet consists of benthic invertebrates, shrimp, shellfish and small fish. The latter occupies a small part, increasing as the slope grows. It is worth noting that the stingray spine is not used for hunting. It is intended solely for self-defense.

The stingray hunts from an ambush, which it arranges at the bottom of the sea. To do this, he lowers himself onto the soil, pressing against it as tightly as possible and sprinkling himself without big amount sand, camouflage. If “for lunch” there are mussels or other mollusks with shells, then the teeth are used, easily crumbling the protection.

The stingray's favorite time to hunt is dusk or night, when it is most active. Second name - catfish– he received it precisely because of this feature. A special enzyme helps him see well at night - guanine, which forms a mirror-like layer in the eyes, which, when exposed to it, improves even the darkest and dullest picture. Combined with the ambush attack, this makes its habits very similar to the behavior of pets.

Reproduction

By the nature of reproduction, the sea cat is an ovoviviparous fish, and the fry emerges from the mother’s womb already fully adapted to life. But even here the stingray stands out. The fact is that the embryo in the egg feeds not only on the yolk, but also on the histotroph ( nutrient, similar in function and purpose to breast milk).

Small stingrays (about 8 cm “in the body” and 20 cm in length) appear in June-July, and general period pregnancy and gestation is up to 120 days. After birth, the tailed bells disperse throughout the water area, without subsequently showing any signs of “kinship” relationships.

The maximum lifespan of stingrays is 10 years, and in captivity they can live up to 20. They lead an isolated lifestyle, rarely gathering in large groups.

Meaning

The common stingray is not a commercial fish, since the meat does not have a particular palatability. Fish liver, which contains a large number of vitamin D and used to make fish oil. In ancient times, poisonous thorns were used as weapon tips, and arrows were smeared with poison.

The Black Sea stingray is also used for decorative purposes, as aquarium fish, but this requires large capacities and special conditions content.

Stingrays are called waterfowl butterflies. Where do these people get their nickname from? amazing fish, it becomes clear to anyone who has seen how stingrays move in the water. The tail is not used when swimming. Stingrays swim, making movements that are more similar not to the energetic strokes of the fins of other types of fish, but to the flapping of the wings of butterflies.

The peculiar body structure of stingrays significantly distinguishes them even from their closest relatives - sharks. However, it should be noted here that the ancient stingrays were very similar in appearance to their “relatives” - external changes began later, and they affected mainly the external appearance. Internal structure stingrays and sharks remained similar. Both of them belong to cartilaginous fish, which are distinguished by the absence of a swim bladder and an unossified skeleton. Stingrays have no bones - only cartilage.

The transverse mouth opening, nostrils and five to six pairs of gill slits are located on the underside of the head. The eyes and specific respiratory squirts are located on top - it turns out that stingrays are not destined to see what they eat.

Stingrays are bottom-dwelling fish, often bury themselves in the sand, which influenced the formation of the respiratory system. The fish inhales through the squirters located in the upper part of the head (immediately behind the eyes), exhaling through the gills. If, during inhalation, particles of dirt and silt get into the spray bottle, the stingray sharply throws out a stream of contaminated water.

Structural features of stingrays

The structure of the stingray has a number of features that significantly distinguish representatives of the superorder Batoidea from other fish species.

Flat body diamond-shaped or o round shape

Front fins fused to the head

No swim bladder

The gills are located on the underside of the body

Cartilaginous skeleton

Electroreceptors that allow you to pick up the impulses of other fish (for example, heartbeat)

Stingrays

stingray Himantura uarnak With east coast Australia

The spine of this stingray had a body disk diameter of 80 cm.

Stingray Spine

Stingray Spine

They can be dangerous to humans due to their poisonous tail, which is used not for attack, but for protection.

Structure

The body of stingrays is flat, almost round. The edge of the pectoral fins is fused with the sides of the body and head. The nictitating membrane is absent. There is no anal fin.

The eyes of stingrays are located on top. On top, immediately behind the eyes, there are squirts - the respiratory openings of the gills, necessary for breathing when buried in the sand. The mouth is located below, and stingrays never see what they eat. They smell their prey through both nostrils. In addition, stingrays, like other cartilaginous fish, have sensors sensitive to electric fields. These electroreceptors allow prey to be located and identified using species-specific electric fields. If a stingray detects prey, even the strong shell armor will not stop it. The teeth of stingrays are thick plates that can even open shells.

The skin of stingrays is smooth, almost velvety to the touch. The color of the back is dark. Brownish or gray, sometimes dirty tones. Often the stingray's back is also covered with spots, stripes or rings. The belly is light.

Reproduction

Stingrays, like all cartilaginous fish, have internal fertilization. Stingrays are ovoviviparous. The copulatory organ of males is a pair of pterygopodia, each of which is a modified posterior part of the ventral fin. Mating of many stingrays occurs in winter. During mating, the male is on top of the female, almost closely following her and, biting the edge of her thoracic disc, inserts one of the pterygopodia into the female’s cloaca. The fertility of stingrays is low, so fertilized eggs develop in the womb and, in addition to nutrition from the yolk of the egg, they also receive a nutritious liquid, something like milk. This fluid is secreted by special outgrowths located on the walls of the uterus. Such outgrowths penetrate the sputum of the embryos, and the nutrient fluid enters directly into the digestive tract. Newborn babies remain in the mother's body until small stingrays emerge from them. Immediately after birth, they sink to the bottom, where they dig up prey in the sand: worms, crayfish, shrimp.

Classification

There are 8 genera with 89 species in the stingray family:

• Dasyatis
• Himantura
• Makararaja
• Neotrygon
• Pastinachus
• Pteroplatytrygon
• Taeniura
• Urogymnus

• The ancient Greeks used venom from the stingray's spine as an anesthetic for dental treatment.
• Pliny the Elder wrote in Natural History: “There is nothing more terrible than the thorn of a stingray... This formidable weapon can pierce a tree, and the tree will die; it can also pierce armor like an iron arrow, and to the power of iron it also has the power of poison added.”
• The stingray spike was used as a spear tip by the islanders of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Malays, Australian Aborigines and Indians.
• Famous Australian TV presenter Steve Irwin died while filming the film "The Most dangerous inhabitants ocean" - the stingray hit him with a spike in the area of ​​​​the heart
• Stingrays are relatives of sharks; they are also cartilaginous fish: the spine, ribs, and skull are made of cartilage. The stingray has no sides - only the back and belly, top and bottom.

Notes

Literature

• Wheeler A. Sem. Stingrays and fam. Eagle rays - Dasyatidae, Myliobatidae // Key to marine and fresh water North European Basin = Key to the Fishes of Northern Europe / Translation from English by T. I. Smolyanova, edited by Ph.D. biol. Sciences V. P. Serebryakova. - M.: Light and food industry, 1983. - 432 p.

Bibliography

• Drescher V. Stingrays. M., 2006.
• Shchiglenko E. Deadly contact. GEO (Russia). , June.

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See what “Stingtails” are in other dictionaries:

Stingrays... orthographic dictionary-directory

Stingrays (Dasyatidae), family of fish Neg. tail-shaped (Dasyatiformes). The skin is smooth or covered with a few. tweezers. The wide part of the body (the so-called disk) is from 60 cm to 2.5 m or more, the tail part is well separated, the tail is usually ... ... Biological encyclopedic dictionary

stingrays- paprastosios dygliauodegės rajos statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas taksono rangas šeima apibrėžtis Visų vandenynų atogrąžų ir paatogrąžio, rečiau – vidutinės platumos, upių žemupiai. 7 gentys, stingrays50 rūšių. Kūno plotis – 60–250 cm.… … Žuvų pavadinimų žodynas

stingrays- pl., R. tail/fishing… Spelling dictionary of the Russian language

In stingrays, the pectoral fins merge with each other in front of the head. The tail part of their body is well separated from the body. The disc is very wide, the tail is usually thin and pointed; as a rule, it is much longer than the disk,... ... Biological encyclopedia Biological encyclopedic dictionary

This term has other meanings, see Skate (meanings). ? Stingrays ... Wikipedia

On Grand Cayman, the largest of the Cayman Islands, there is a place called Stingray City, named not after the singer Joanna Stingray, but because of a local landmark. Like all the settlements on the island, Stingray City is located on the seashore, and very close to it, on the sand and coral shallows, many stingrays live. The vast majority of them are stingrays, in English stingray - “stinging rays”.

Zoo center

Stingrays Dasyatidae
Type chordates
Class cartilaginous fish
Superorder stingrays
Squad tail-shaped
Family stingrays

The stingray family includes 6 genera and about 60 species. They inhabit tropical and subtropical waters of the World Ocean, in some places, mainly in areas warm currents, penetrate into the moderate ones. They live in shallow waters (from the littoral zone to 100 meters), staying near the bottom almost all the time, except for one species - Dasyatis violacea, which lives in the water column, far from the shores. By nature, they are solitary, with the exception of the breeding season or mass migrations characteristic of some species, but they are not territorial and not aggressive. They feed on crustaceans, mollusks, annelids and other benthic invertebrates, to a lesser extent fish. The body is round in shape, the pectoral fins are fused in front of the head. The color of the belly is light (white, off-white, yellowish), the back is black, brown or dark gray, in many species with numerous colored spots, stripes or rings. The tail is thin, pointed, whip-shaped, without fins or leathery outgrowths, and long in most species. In the middle part of the tail there is one or more poisonous spines. Ovoviviparous. Pregnancy lasts about a year. One litter can have from 2 to 25 cubs. Immediately after birth they lead an independent life, reaching sexual maturity in the 3rd-4th year. The maximum known lifespan is 25 years.

American stingray - Dasyatis americana - is very similar to the common one in European waters(including in the Black Sea) sea cat - Dasyatis pastinaca, but larger. However, the stingray family is not distinguished by its variety of forms at all. Together with sharks and a few more exotic groups, rays form a special class of vertebrates called cartilaginous fishes. The word “fish” is deceptive here: these animals differ from real fish, perhaps more than humans. And the name “cartilaginous” indicates their main feature: There are no bones in the body of such animals - their skeleton consists of cartilage. Rays and sharks are also similar in many other characteristics characteristic of cartilaginous fish: a mouth located on the underside of the body, two rows of gill slits, a special type of nitrogen metabolism.

However, all these features are noticeable, rather, to a zoologist. But to a non-professional, a shark and a stingray, of course, will seem completely different. The shark's body - triangular in cross section, hydrodynamically perfect - evokes associations either with an airplane or with a hydrofoil boat. A stingray is like a frying pan: its flat body, from which a “handle” extends from behind, is thin and usually a long tail, almost regular round shape. Although in fact it retains a triangular cross-section, only this triangle has a greatly stretched lower side. The dorsal fin is practically absent, and the pectoral fins are very wide and fused at the edges with the head and back of the body, which gives the fish the shape of a frying pan. Even to the touch, stingrays differ sharply from their relatives. If the skin of a shark is completely covered with hard and sharp placoid scales (not much different in structure from shark teeth), then it is soft and soft skin Stingrays have no scales at all.

Such dissimilar appearances reflect differences in lifestyle. Sharks live in the water column and are in constant motion all their lives. The vast majority of stingrays, including all stingrays, live near the very bottom and usually at shallow depths, that is, in coastal zone. Barely moving the edges of its body, like the tails of a cloak, the stingray slowly swims above the very bottom in search of prey - various kinds bottom invertebrates.

This leisurely hunt is carried out literally blindly, since his eyes are located on the upper side of the body, he cannot look down in any way. But on the lower side there are nostrils, which have nothing to do with breathing and work only as an organ of smell, as well as electroreceptors that detect disturbances in the electric field caused by living beings. Of course, no matter how sensitive these organs are, they can only be used to catch slow-swimming animals. The usual prey of stingrays are crustaceans, mollusks, and echinoderms. Many of them are protected by a strong shell or shell, but this does not bother the hunter: its plate-shaped teeth are capable of chewing through almost any armor.

When the stingray is not busy searching for food, it simply lies on the bottom for a long time, sometimes also buried in the sand. Such a pastime is poorly compatible with the shark's method of breathing, in which water is pumped into the gills through the mouth. The stingray's mouth is pressed to the ground - it has a different pattern of water movement: it enters the pharynx through special holes - splashes, located on the upper side of the body. This allows the animal to breathe without the risk of sand clogging its gills. Of course, the power of water flow with this scheme is small, but the stingray does not need a lot of oxygen: its lifestyle does not involve long and intense muscle tension.

A slow-moving creature with delicate skin and a boneless body is too much of a temptation for sea ​​predators, which are enough even in shallow water. Camouflage alone is clearly not enough for survival here, so different groups of stingrays chose various means self-defense. What strikes people's imagination the most is electric ramps, in whose body some of the muscles have turned into real electric batteries capable of delivering a discharge voltage of over 200 volts. The weapon of stingrays is a long, thin and flexible sword-tail, equipped with a sharp spike (in most species one, in some - two or even four). This spine, which is a modified placoid scale, is the only evidence that the ancestors of the stingray once had scales. It is very hard and durable, its surface is covered with back-facing serrations, and along the underside there are two grooves connected to a poisonous gland. However, stingrays use their poisoned dagger only for self-defense. An attacked or disturbed stingray delivers a swift and accurate blow with its tail towards the perceived threat. The tail wraps around the attacker, like the strap of a whip, while the spike instantly emerges from the “sheath” - the folds of skin that cover it in a calm state - and pierces the enemy’s body.

Pliny the Elder wrote that the stingray's thorn pierces even wood and armor. This is, of course, an exaggeration, but the force of the tail of a large stingray is sufficient for the spike to pierce the fabric of a wetsuit or leather shoes. The prick of the thorn is extremely painful and causes a fall blood pressure, weakness, cardiac dysfunction. If the blow hits the arm or leg (as most often happens), the limb is paralyzed for several days. Death is extremely rare, but possible. This is how the “crocodile hunter”, the famous Australian TV presenter Steve Irwin, died. On September 4, 2006, while filming the film “The Most Dangerous Inhabitants of the Ocean,” he was stung by a stingray. The spike hit him in the chest, and Irwin's heart stopped before he could be helped.

This, of course, is an exceptional case, but in general, collisions between stingrays and people are not uncommon. Only on the coast North America Stingrays injure about 750 people a year, and the total annual number of casualties worldwide is likely to be in the thousands. Most of these incidents occur due to a misunderstanding: a swimmer, wandering along the bottom, steps on a stingray lying down, merging with the ground. But fishermen also contribute to the number of people stung: in some countries, stingrays are considered a valuable game fish. For example, in Korea, the meat of stingrays is valued higher than other stingrays. It's not just people who get hit by poisoned stilettos: zoologists have found stingray spines in the lungs, chest cavity, liver and pancreas of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. At the same time, the remains of stingrays were not found in dolphin stomachs and no one has ever seen dolphins hunting stingrays. Apparently, a curious dolphin accidentally bumped into a camouflaged stingray and received a painful injection.

In principle, stingrays are so curious and non-aggressive that they can be tamed right in the sea. Hundreds of people come to the Stingray City shallows specifically to interact with the stingrays. They take pieces of fish from their hands, allow them to stroke their soft, silky bellies, or arrange for themselves something like a spa, floating above the scuba diver and bathing in the bubbles of the air he exhales. Despite the abundance of stingrays and their close contact with people, there are no injuries here. True, here the fish stay at a depth of several meters, so it’s difficult for even the most careless tourist to step on them.

A special chapter in the life of stingrays is reproduction. They (like all cartilaginous fish in general) have internal fertilization. It is preceded by a rather long courtship: the male first follows the female, then grabs the edge of her body near the head with his mouth, and she literally carries him away. At the climax, he tucks his belly under the belly of the female and presses tightly against her. At the same time, the partners do not see each other, because, as we remember, the eyes of stingrays are located on the dorsal side.

Many stingrays lay eggs - it’s somehow strange to call these large, quadrangular, leathery capsules with ribbon-like bags at the corners “caviar.” Many, but not stingrays. In this group of rays, the embryos develop inside the female's body, inside a special organ similar to the uterus of mammals. Each embryo is initially located in the egg, but leaves it as it grows. At this moment, the little stingray’s nutrition from the yolk sac ends, and it’s too early for it to go out into the world. At this stage, the walls of the uterus form special outgrowths - trophonemes, which penetrate the squirters of the embryo and through them into the digestive tract. There they secrete a special nutritious secretion (an analogue of milk), on which the future skate grows until birth. We can say that this baby feeds on its mother's milk right in the womb.

Pregnancy in stingrays lasts about a year (11-15 months depending on the species) and ends with the birth of only a few large cubs. Immediately after birth, the stingray spreads its folded “wings”, like those of a newborn butterfly, and sinks to the bottom. He already knows everything necessary for independent life: what creatures are edible, how to react to the approach of an enemy, etc. From now on, he will always rely only on himself.

Stingrays belong to the genus of cartilaginous fish; they are quite dangerous. They can harm a person and even sometimes kill him. They are very widespread and inhabit almost all seas and oceans where the water temperature is not lower than 1.5°C. Stingrays live both in shallow water and at depths of up to 2.5 km.

Stingrays of this species have a flat body. The fused pectoral fins, together with the sides of the body and the head, form an oval or diamond-shaped disc. A powerful, thick tail extends from it, at the end of which there is a poisonous spike.

It is large and grows up to 35 cm in length. The grooves on it are connected to glands that produce poison. After an attack, the thorn itself remains in the victim's body, and a new one grows in its place.

A stingray is capable of “growing” several of them throughout its life. Interestingly, the local aborigines knew about this ability of stingrays, and used these spikes instead of tips when making spears and arrows. And they even specially bred these.

The eyes of stingrays are located at the top of the body, behind them there are squirts. These are openings in the gills. Therefore, they can breathe even when completely buried in the sand. long time.

Still on the body marine stingrays there are nostrils, a mouth and 10 gill slits. The bottom of the mouth is covered with many fleshy processes, and their teeth look like thick plates arranged in rows. They are capable of opening even the strongest shells.

Like everyone else, they have sensors that react to electric fields. This helps to find and identify the victim during the hunt. The skin of stingrays is very pleasant to the touch: smooth, slightly velvety. Therefore, it was used to make drums by local tribes. Its color is dark, sometimes there is an unexpressed pattern, and its belly, on the contrary, is light.

In the photo there is a sea stingray

Among these stingrays there are also lovers of fresh water - river stingrays. They can only be found in bodies of water South America. Their body is covered with scales and reaches a length of up to 1.5 meters. Their color is brown or gray, with small spots or specks.

In the photo there is a river stingray

Distinctive feature blue stingray is not only its smooth purple bodies. But also a way of moving through the water column. If other stingrays of this species move the edges of the disk in waves, this one flaps its “wings” like a bird.

In the photo there is a blue stingray

One of the types stingrays(sea cat) can be found in Black Sea. It rarely grows to 70 cm in length. The stingray is brown-gray in color with a white belly. It is quite difficult to see him, he is shy and stays away from crowded beaches. Despite the danger, many divers dream of meeting him.

In the photo there is a sea cat stingray

Character and lifestyle of stingray fish

Stingrays live in shallow water, burrowing into the sand during the day; sometimes a crevice in a rock or a depression under stones can become a resting place. They can pose a danger to humans.

Of course, they won’t attack on purpose. But if they are accidentally disturbed or stepped on, they will begin to defend themselves. The stingray begins to make sharp and strong attacks and pierces the enemy with its spike.

If it hits the heart area, almost instant death occurs. The tail muscles are so strong that the spike can easily pierce not only the human body, but also the bottom of a wooden boat.

When poison enters the body, it causes severe and burning pain at the site of injury. It will gradually subside over several days. Before the ambulance arrives, the victim needs to suck out the poison from the wound and rinse it with plenty of sea ​​water. Similar poison as stingray, has also marine the Dragon, which is also found in the waters of the Black Sea.

To avoid becoming an accidental victim of this stingray, you need to make a loud noise and wave your legs when entering the water. This will scare away the hunter, and he will try to swim away immediately. You also need to be careful when cutting up a stingray carcass. Its poison remains dangerous to humans for a long time.

Despite all this, stingrays are very curious and obedient. They can be tamed and even hand-fed. In the Cayman Islands, there is a place for diving tourists where you can safely swim next to stingrays, in the company of professional divers and even make unique photo.

Although stingrays, by their nature, are rather solitary, they often gather in groups of more than 100 individuals near the coasts of Mexico. And they are located in shallow sea depressions, which are called “paradise”.

In European waters, these stingrays can only be seen in summer. When the water temperature drops, they swim away into more warm places for “wintering”, and some species simply bury themselves deep in the sand.

Stingray fish food

The stingray uses its tail only during self-defense, and it does not take any part in the hunt for prey. To catch the victim stingray slowly hovers near the bottom and slightly lifts the sand with wave-like movements. This is how he “digs out” food for himself. Thanks to its camouflage coloring, it is almost invisible during hunting and is reliably protected from its enemies.

Stingrays eat marine animals, crustaceans and other invertebrates. Larger specimens can also feast on dead fish and cephalopods. With their rows of blunt teeth, they easily chew through any shells.

Reproduction and lifespan of stingray fish

The lifespan of a stingray depends on the species. Californian individuals hold the record: females live up to 28 years. On average, this figure fluctuates around 10 in nature, in captivity it is five years longer.

Stingrays heterosexual and internal fertilization is inherent in them, like all cartilaginous fish. The choice of pair occurs by means of pheromones that the female releases into the water.

The male finds her using this trail. Sometimes several of them arrive at once, then the one who is faster than his competitors wins. During mating itself, the male sits on top of the female, and, biting her on the edge of the disc, begins to insert the pterygopodium (reproductive organ) into her cloaca.

Pregnancy lasts about 210 days, the litter can contain from 2 to 10 fry. While in the womb, they develop by feeding on yolk and protein-rich liquid. It is produced by special outgrowths located on the walls of the uterus.

They join the squirter of the embryos, and thus the nutrient fluid is delivered directly to their digestive tract. After maturation, small stingrays are born curled up into a tube and, upon entering the water, immediately begin to straighten their discs.

In the photo there is an ocellated stingray

Males reach sexual maturity by 4 years, and females by 6. Stingrays bear offspring once a year. Its time depends on the habitat of the stingrays, but always occurs during the warm period of the year.

Stingworms not in danger of extinction. They are not caught on an industrial scale. Stingrays are eaten and various diseases, including pneumonia, are treated with liver fat.