It came from another world ... probably a liquid one ... it was shaped by different conditions ... and that's what made it look strange in our eyes ...
... the body of this stranger was laid down on the large flagstone, usually used to clean and prepare the fish, transform it from a swimming animal into something ready to be cooked.
I provided this very sharp little knife ... and my friend called #denisdenis here on HIVE (and only Denis in our small town)... started the procedure.
And now ...
... what started as some pulpy SyFy fiction ... is about to turn into a real life event, backed by photographs... and enriched with some zoological information.
These photographs were taken about three weeks ago ... when a local fisherman gave me the sting ray gratis. My #denisdenis friend passed by and when saw the fish he immediately envisioned a mask, a tambourine, and a few more things made from the skin ... so I let him do the skinning job to preserve the thing in one (or maximum two) pieces.
I'll put here the link to his yesterday's post so you can see what he made out of this skin : @denisdenis/my-pet-changed-the-skin
He took the skin, I fried the flesh for a very tasty lunch ... and the cats got the cartilage with the entrails. It was a bit like in the ancient past, when only natural material were used, nothing from this organic sea treasure got wasted.
After this little, mundane introduction to set the scene ... is time for some more scientific talk. After all this will appear in the Stem sector of this platform.
The "Alien" species of the post is the Thornback ray (Raja clavata) the most common and widespread ray in the Adriatic Sea. Shaped by living in the liquid medium, it kind of is an alien to us, land primates from a different world on the same planet.
Rays (Batoidea) are the largest group of cartilaginous fishes. There are about 630 species divided into (about) 26 families. I use the word about here, because I found different data, shifting from 10 to 12 in various sources.
As you already saw on these photographs, Rays are distinguished by their flattened bodies, enlarged pectoral fins that are fused to the head, and gill slits that are placed on their ventral surfaces. Their swimming style can be described as elegant flying through the water. The mouth is also situated on the ventral part ...
... while the eyes and spiracles (a small hole behind each eye that opens to the mouth) ...
... are located on top of the head. These spiracles are an adaptation to help them breathe while resting on the bottom of the sea.
With this interesting anatomic separation of mouth and sensory organs, they use primarily their electroreception to find the prey on the sea floor, mostly under the mud or sand, while the sight is used to scan the upper side of the surroundings in search of the potential danger. The lateral line canal system that serves to detect movements and pressure changes in the surrounding water, is spread through the body surface including both the Dorsal (up) and the Ventral (down) side, covering all the space around the fish.
Like most of the Batoidea fish ...
... the Thornback rays have developed heavy, rounded teeth for crushing the shells of bottom-dwelling species, crabs and shrimps mostly ... but they do hunt also small fish hidden in the sea floor sediments.
The ventral side is always white ... or kind of pale yellow ... while the shades and patterns on the upper, dorsal side ...
... can vary from specimen to specimen ... and under this photograph :D I just can't resist to say that I noticed how #denisdenis perfectly resembles the "Crazy scientist" stereotype ... or some villain from a James Bond movie.
While working on this project ...
... he had a great help ...
... and full support ...
... from my very professional cat crew.
On this photograph you can see the famous Dr. Miles (Yap, Miles is the name of the cat, named after Miles Davis because meows very melodically, like a good shinny trumpet) supervising the operation.
He, he ... from this angle, with just the head visible in the frame, looks a lot like some Muppet Show character ... and Denis is a famous guest star of the episode. :) I adored that show as a kid.
With all this cat - talk, I almost forgot to say ...
... that this ray species lives in the relatively shallow waters. Between 10 and 60 meters. Adult fish can grow to 1 meter in length, although most are less than 85 centimeters long ... and can weigh from 2 to 4 kg. The offspring develops inside the Egg cases, oblong capsules with stiff pointed horns at the corners, each containing one embryo. These cases are laid during winter and spring, here in the Mediterranean area ... and usually anchored to rocks and sea grasses with an adhesive film. These eggs look pretty interesting ... and a bit alien too ... but I didn't make any photograph to use in the post ...
... so I just drew this quick little sketch to show you how are they shaped. ;) On the following picture ...
... is the darker, more alien version ... but maybe they will look something like that when seen in their natural surroundings during a night dive excursion.
And now ... with the cat called Bembo resting ...
... after the long and demanding anatomical study ...
... is time to end this short lesson :) ... as always in these posts on the HIVE, all the artworks and photographs are made by me - THE END.
