The stingray

Description: The stingray or stingray is a ray of the family of Dasyatidae. Its flat, diamond-shaped body is as wide as it is long. The total length of this line is generally greater than 1 m, for a weight varying between 15 and 20 kg. The maximum known length is 2,50 m. The color of its skin varies according to the individual: gray-blue or even russet for the dorsal surface and a clear ventral side. His eyes are on the dorsal side while the mouth, nostrils and gill slits (five slits on each side) are on the ventral side. The mouth is located quite indented with many small, pointed, expensive male and molar-shaped teeth dear to women. The whip-shaped tail, representing 60% of the total length. She has a dangerous poisonous sting. Its tail acts as a simple rudder and is not used for displacement. It's his big pectoral fins that take care of it. They also serve him to escape into the sand.

Habitat: The stingray is a coastal species. It is found in the northeastern Atlantic, in the Mediterranean Sea, in Polynesia and from the North Sea to the Gulf of Guinea. It can be observed between 5 and 60 m deep on sandy or sandy-muddy bottoms, but also in estuaries, preferably in calm and sheltered waters. It very rarely exceeds 100m.

Food: Hunting on the lookout, the stingray is a formidable predator ... Fled into the sand, it is waiting for small fish, crabs, shrimps and invertebrates living on the bottom before immobilizing them and grinding them with its jaws and teeth. The young rays, as for them, eat only crustaceans.

Reproduction: The stingray is ovoviviparous, ie hatching of the eggs is done in the body of the mother and then rejects young already free. For mating, the pelvic fins of the male are transformed into copulatory appendages called claspers. The appendages have hooks that will allow to grip the female during mating. Once sperm transfer is complete, the male secretes another substance that closes the genital opening of the female, so no further mating can take place. After 4 gestation months, the female will put down along the ribs. It will give birth to 4 to small 7 that will measure about ten centimeters.

Generalities: Venom has haemolytic, neurotoxic and cardiovascular effects. It is thermolabile. The pain caused by the bite is immediate and grows rapidly, with irradiation and edema formation. Healing is very slow, sometimes with superinfection.

He is not an aggressive animal unless he feels attacked.

The largest stingrays are on the shores of the Maghreb.