STINGRAYS

Welcome to Stingray Bay. The rays in this display are cownose rays, blue spotted maskrays and whiptails.

Rays are closely related to sharks. Did you know the only bones in a ray's body are the ones they eat? Their skeleton is made up of flexible cartilage (the bendy stuff that your ears and nose are made from!)

Stingrays use electromagnetic senses to search for food. Special pits across the front of their face allow them to pick up electrical signals from other animals when they move.

Stingrays protect themselves with venomous barbs in their tail. At the aquarium, we periodically clip the barbs off like fingernails so they can’t accidently harm someone.

Sadly, the number of rays are in decline and they are classified as a Threatened Species. Overfishing, habitat loss and climate change are the major threats to rays. We must do what we can to protect them!

Feel free to touch the rays using the gentle two-finger touch method. You can hand feed them by purchasing food from our bait shack.