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| facts about spotted eagle ray |
Their strong swimming ability allows them to move quickly and gracefully through the water.
These rays often feed on worms, mollusks, and crustaceans by digging into the sand. Their mouth is located on the underside of their long, broad snout. Their teeth are plate-like, allowing them to crush prey.
Eagle rays have respiratory openings next to their eyes called spiracles that assist with breathing and their sense of smell Venomous barbs on their whip-like tail acts as a defense against predators.
Being stung can cause immense pain. Spotted eagle rays can leap out of the water if they
are being pursued by predators like the great hammerhead shark. These rays are ovoviviparous.
This means that hatched embryos remain in their mother and receive nutrition from a yolk sac before live birth. Females can have 1 to 4 pups per litter after a gestation period of about 1 year.
Adults can grow about 10 feet (3 ft) wide.No two rays have the same pattern of spots. Spotted eagle rays spend much of their time swimming near the surface in open waters, often in large schools, but they can be found down to about 200 ft (60 m) deep. They are fished commercially in some countries. These rays are also popular in aquariums.