Stingrays are a large group of over 300 fish
species, which includes skates, stingrays, mantarays
and guitar fish. Stingrays are cartilaginous fish
that are related to the shark family.
Stingray Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Chondrichthyes
Superorder: Batoidea
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Other Names: Rays,
Stingray in Foreign Languages:
Croatian: Raža
Dutch: Rog
Finnish: Rausku
French: raie
German: Rochen
Hungarian: Rája
Italian: Razza
Latvian: Raja
Polish: Plaszczka
Portuguese: Arraia / Raia
Spanish: Raya
Swedish: Rocka
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Size: Stingrays may be as small as a few
inches or up to 5 to 7 feet long. Large stingrays
measure up to 7 feet across and can weigh up to
790 lbs.
Habitat: Stingrays are most commonly
found in the shallow coastal waters of temperate
seas.
Description: Stingrays are large and flat.
Stingrays have a barbed "stinger" on
the end of their tail, that they use defensively.
Stingrays have eyes on the top of their body and
mouths are on the underside.
Diet: Rays are carnivores and feed on
bottom-dwelling fish, mollusks, crustaceans, clams,
oysers and some species feed on plankton.
Communication: Stingrays communicate
through electric signals and body language
to communicate their feelins.
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Did You Know?
Stingrays can live in salt water
or brackish waters.
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Gestation: Stingrays carry their young
for approximately 9 months.
Birth: Stingrays give live birth to litters
of between 5 and 15 babies. Baby stingrays are
born with the ability to swim about and hunt with
their mother.
Life Span: Stingrays typically
live 15 to 25 years in the wild.
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Did You Know?
tingray venom was used as an
anaesthetic in ancient Greece
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Social Structure: Most ray species are
solitary.
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