The Unstartled Steppes of Dream
I am Ashley.
This is my personal blog. If you want just marine biology, go here.
I love the world; I really don't like people.
I balance all this animosity towards the human race with being an almost always kind and gentle being to all creatures.
I'm highly introverted and nature is my primary escape from people.
Creepy-crawly-slimy things are my favorites. Dinosaurs are fantastic.
Future marine biologist; presently an amateur entomologist, ichthyologist, artist, biologist, and writer.
Literature, video game, and music connoisseur.
I'm so full of passion for the world that it hurts.
I think a lot, I laugh a lot, I love a lot.
Almost none of the photos are mine and only some of the drawings are mine.
Listen in.
Rays and Skates
Rays and skates:
- Flattened bodies
- Most live on/near bottom
- Gill slits on underside of body
- Pectoral fins fused with head (look like wings)
Stingrays:
- Whip-like tail, spine
- Venom glands
- Feed on clams, crabs, small fish
Electric rays:
- Organs on head produce electricity
- Shock of 200 volts
Skates:
- Smaller tails
- No venom
(Pictured: Manta Rays via National Geographic)
Cartilaginous Fish - Class Chondrichthyes
They have a skeleton made of cartilage, movable jaws, and their mouths are situated under their heads. Sharks, skates, rays, and chimaeras all fall into this class of fish. Pictured is a round stingray, most often seen in summer, when they move inshore into inlets and bays to forage for invertebrates among seagrass and bask in the warm-water shallows.
