Hello, here is my promised post about a Marine Animal.  My brother requested that I write about stingrays, so here it is.

Many people think that stingrays are dangerous and deadly.  This is not true.  Stingrays are not aggressive, if threatened, they are most likely to just swim away.  The most common reason for them to sting, is if they are stepped on.  Then their tail whips up and stings.  Their stinger is a razor-sharp, barbed, or serrated spine, made of cartilidge, which grows from the ray's whip-like tail.  (much like a human's fingernail)  On the underside of the spine are two grooves containing venom-secreting tissue. The entire spine is covered with a thin layer of skin called the integumentary sheath, in which venom is concentrated.  

These stings are rarely fatal.  They are painful, but very, very seldom fatal. 

There are many different species of stingrays.  They vary in size from the size of a man's palm, to 6 feet in diameter and 14 feet including tail! 

Stingrays swim with a flying motion using their large pectoral wings, commonly incorrectly refered to as "fins".

Stingrays can be found in tropical coastal waters in various places in the world, but there are fresh water species in Asia , Africa, and Florida.  

This is a blue spotted stingray.

Another stingray.

Stingrays are fascinating creatures and I enjoyed doing the research for this post.  If you would like to learn more about a specific type of marine animal, post a comment telling me what animal you are interested in.  And even if you don't have a request, comments are still welcome.

Niki