Spotted-eagle Ray

The Spotted-Eagle Ray belongs to the family Myliobatidae. These creatures are what we call cartilaginous fish. This means that their skeleton is made primarily of cartilage. This graceful swimmer grazes the sandy soft bottoms in warm oceans all over. The spotted-eagle ray is the largest eagle ray besides the manta ray. Spotted-eagle rays can grow to a maximum length of 16 feet including the tail (the tail has spines that are venomous). Weighing up to 500 pounds, you would think all that weight would weigh the eagle ray down, but they can leap their entire body out of the water! From the pictures, you can see how the eagle rays’ mouth is. They have teeth that are plate-like to crush their prey up so it's easier to eat. They stay close to the bottom so they can use their nose to dig in the sand to find prey. Fun fact about eagle rays is in how they reproduce. Spotted-eagle rays use internal fertilization for reproduction. The female rays do not connect with their young with a placenta, but through feeding the embryos energy produced by the yolk sac. It is not until the young (still inside of her) become mature enough then she can give live birth to at least 4 pups.

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