The eagle rays are a group of

cartilaginous fish Chondrichthyes (; ) is a class that contains the cartilaginous fishes that have skeletons primarily composed of cartilage. They can be contrasted with the Osteichthyes or ''bony fishes'', which have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. ...

es in the family Myliobatidae, consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom. Eagle rays feed on

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is es ...

s and

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

s, crushing their shells with their flattened teeth. They are excellent swimmers and are able to breach the water up to several metres above the surface. Compared with other rays, they have long tails, and well-defined,

rhomboid Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled. A parallelogram with sides of equal length ( equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboid. ...

al bodies. They are

ovoviviparous Ovoviviparity, ovovivipary, ovivipary, or aplacental viviparity is a term used as a "bridging" form of reproduction between egg-laying oviparous and live-bearing viviparous reproduction. Ovoviviparous animals possess embryos that develop insi ...

, giving birth to up to six young at a time. They range from in length and 7 m (23 ft) in wingspan.

Classification

Nelson's book ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American Ichthyology, ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classificat ...

'' treats cownose rays, mantas, and devil rays as subfamilies in the Myliobatidae. However, most authors (including William Toby White) have preferred to leave the

Rhinopteridae ''Rhinoptera'' is a genus of ray commonly known as the cownose rays. This genus is the only member of the family Rhinopteridae. Species There are currently 8 recognized extant (living) species in this genus: * '' Rhinoptera adspersa'' J. P. M� ...

and Mobulidae outside of the Myliobatidae. White (2014) retained three genera (''Aetobatus'', ''Aetomylaeus'', and ''Myliobatis'') in the Myliobatidae, while a fourth (''Pteromylaeus'') was synoymized with ''Aetomylaeus''. A 2016 paper placed ''Aetobatus'' in its own family, the Aetobatidae.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6629661 Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte Extant Cenomanian first appearances

Classification

See also

References