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Marbled Electric Ray | Daily Animal Facts

Animal profile

Marbled Electric Ray

Torpedo marmorata

ChondrichthyesSandy and muddy bottoms, seagrass and rocky reefs from the shallows to about 100 metresLeast Concern

Field profile

The marbled electric ray is a mottled, roughly circular ray of European and African coasts, growing to about 60 centimetres. It ambushes small fishes at night, immobilising them with an electric discharge before swallowing them whole.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2025-11-28

Marbled Electric Ray

Neuroscience owes a debt to electric rays

The electric organ of a torpedo ray is the richest known source of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Isolating that receptor from ray tissue in the early 1970s gave neuroscience its first molecular handle on how a nerve signals a muscle.

Read with evidence →