The Stingrays

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Diet
Stingrays eat a variety of foods. Although Stingrays are relatively large creatures, they feed on tiny marine animals such as crustaceans. Specific species include crabs, clams, oysters, snails, worms and some species of fish. The Common Stingray primarily prey during the nighttime rather in the day and because they are in the order of Myliobatiformes, they strictly feed on meat (Carnivores). When hunting, they hunt within the upper water column meaning they eat in areas above the sea floor. The stingrays is also used in hunting as the stinger on the end of its long tail can pierce through its prey eluding any possibilities for escape. When unable to catch prey, their fins are also used to remove the top layer of sand in search of any …show more content…

In common Stingrays, their digestive tract consist of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, anterior intestine, spiral valve intestine, ending in a cloaca. Unlike most animals, the mouth of the stingray is located on its underbelly and is the opening hole in allowing food bolus to enter. With some common stingray, they do not contain any teeth and therefore must use small plates located in their mouth to absorb the food particles out of the water. Once this has occurred, the gills of the stingray trap the food inside its mouth and allow the remaining water to be released. When in the case that the stingray do not have teeth, there are 28-38 upper tooth rows and 28-43 lower tooth rows where each tooth is often small and blunt. A stingray’s mouth is only visible from underneath and therefore very hard to see. …show more content…

Next the food is traveled through the esophagus where three layers including the mucosa, mascularis, and adventitia are found. The Mucosa is the inner lining of the esophagus, responsible for absorbing water from the food, the Muscaris is responsible for the wave of contraction that helps guide the food down the esophagus which in result: peristalsis and finally the Adventitia/serosa is the smooth membrane consisting of two layers of epithelial cells which is used to secrete serous fluids. After it has traveled down the esophagus, it makes its way to the stomach. Like humans, a stingray’s stomach is very similar as it secretes acids and enzymes that ultimately digest the food bolus. In the stomach, muscles contract periodically churning the food to enhance digestion. Once this process is done, the now chyme makes its way into the anterior intestine. The anterior intestine also known as the Duodenum is the initial portion of the spiral intestine and plays a vital role in the chemical digestion chyme. Compared to bony species of fish, stingrays have in fact a much shorter anterior intestine, therefore the spiral valve is prolonged to compensate. It

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