Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Field notebook
Opening the requested public page…
Taxonomic class
This practical browse label comes from the published animal profiles. Taxonomy changes as evidence improves; individual source records remain the authority.
Newborns move out of estuaries and into fresh water, where they can spend several years before returning to the sea. That nursery habit put the species deep inland, and it is why dams and water extraction hurt a marine ray.
Europe's best-known giant skate was described in 1758 and fished to near extinction under a single name. In 2010 it was shown to be two distinct species that had been lumped together, so the animal on the red list had never been assessed properly.
Its range map is not a band along the coast but a handful of separated patches, from the English Channel to Morocco and the western Mediterranean. Local abundance can be high inside a pocket while the gaps between them stay empty.
Its electric organs are stacks of modified muscle cells wired in series, and the discharge is powerful enough to knock down an adult. The weapon and the naval torpedo share a name, and the ray had it first.
Round stingrays sting only when trodden on, and their spine drives upward into a foot placed on top of them. Sliding the feet along the sand instead of stepping gives a buried ray warning and room to swim away.