A Ray of Sunshine for Rays

I was reading an article on MSN that called manta rays pandas of the oceans. They mentioned little specifically about why they came up with that designation but I figure part of it has to do with the manta ray’s counter shade coloring, white on the underside and black on top. This type of coloring works as a form of camouflage hiding mantas from hungry predators looking at them from above or below. Manta rays also spend a lot of their time grazing on plankton and other small oceanic organisms as peaceably as pandas munching bamboo. Also like pandas, scientists are worried about mantas dwindling numbers in the wild expanses of the oceans and are wondering how close they are to being endangered since their numbers are hard to verify. The latest craze is to hunt them for their gill rakers and discard the rest of them (think huge sharks being harvested for a single fin).

Unlike other rays, most notably the sting ray, mantas don’t come equipped with venomous tail barbs. The manta is a really big (up to 25 feet in length) free ocean swimmer (and sometimes frolicker, leaping and breaching the ocean’s surface) and stingrays and other small rays hang out in shallow coastal, temperate waters moving with the sway of the tide as they munch on mollusks like clams, oysters, and mussels. These smaller bottom feeders camouflage themselves to match the sand they hide in. If you frequent Florida’s and Bahamas’ beaches you are probably familiar with the sting ray shuffle. As you shuffle your feet when wading you give the rays a fair warning so they have time to swim out of your way, thus keeping you out of their way (harm’s way if you've ever suffered a painful sting).

Unlike Steve Irwin (who suffered a fatal sting) and my son Neil (who suffered a non-fatal but still extremely painful sting), I have never been stung in any of my experiences with any kinds rays, from petting them at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, the Tampa Aquarium, Sea Life Park on Oahu, or Jacksonville Zoo to swimming with them, feeding them, or holding them in the waters off Mexico and the Bahamas. I hope for future generations we can find a way to live in harmony with these gentle giants and many other diverse inhabitants of the oceans by embracing conservation efforts to preserve them. All this brings me an earworm…

A little ray of sunshine A little bit of soul Add just a touch of magic You got the greatest thing since rock ‘n’ roll….by the Turtles, (the sea turtles, maybe?).