Black electric ray: attacks with a powerful electric shock that burns out life within a radius of a couple of meters (10 photos)

The black electric ray looks like a giant harmless pancake. But behind the appearance of an awkward creature hides a super-predator, whose victim can even be a shark. All thanks to the fact that the fish has experienced the benefits of civilization and tamed the power of the current. It will not let you charge your phone from itself. But it will give a bream a powerful discharge of 220 volts!





That same second pancake that came out right.

Even without the ability to stun prey, the black stingray is a large predatory fish that cannot be ignored. An adult is as big as a large human man: 180 centimeters long and 90 kilograms in weight. Most predators won't even look in its direction: it's extremely difficult to eat such a big guy.



Hello, human! Want a boost of energy for the whole day?

But it's not easy to spot a stingray. During the day, the huge pest burrows into the sand off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Only after sunset do the fish crawl to the surface and go to a depth of up to 800 meters in search of prey.





I don't get it, where is the stingray itself?

The stingray's eyes are small and they don't see very well. But the fish are not engaged in targeted hunting. Black stingrays suck in fish like a vacuum cleaner and swallow them without chewing, in one sitting. Autopsies of captured specimens show that they are capable of swallowing a cat shark, a two-kilogram salmon or a flounder 37 centimeters long.



And how does such a flattened body fit such food???

If the prey refuses to travel through the gastrointestinal tract, the electric ray stuns it with 10-12 electric discharges with a voltage of 200-220 volts and a power of up to 6 kilowatts. It will not be possible to charge a phone, because the current is direct, not alternating. But this is enough to send all small fish within a radius of a couple of meters to the brink. Even if the prey is not eaten, the injuries will remain with it for life. Muscle spasms from electric shocks lead to tendon ruptures and fractures of thin bones. There have even been cases of spinal fractures!



Advanced military development: bottom electric mine.

And if the stingray itself becomes a victim, it increases the number of discharges to a hundred. This is enough to drive away any predators of a similar size. The good news: the stingray is not capable of killing a person. The bad news: disorientation and stunning at depth are deadly even for experienced divers.



And what, it looks safe...

The rays had to pay dearly for such a powerful and effective weapon. 1/6 of their body mass is accounted for by paired electric organs. More than 500,000 thin plates are hidden in the fish's chest. Each plate is a modified muscle capable of accumulating an electric charge. In fact, this is just a competent refinement of an existing mechanism. Any muscle accumulates a little bioelectricity, which is necessary for the correct functioning of the nervous system.



Now you know which side to insert the stingray into the battery slot.

But the ability of the black stingray to give birth to live eggs is a completely unique development, which has no analogues. Ordinary cartilaginous fish simply lay eggs in secluded places. In the best case, they keep their offspring inside themselves until they hatch.



It is impossible to photograph the hatching of a black electric ray, because it occurs in the womb of the mother. But the difference between species at this stage of development is minimal. In this photo, the embryo and its strange egg capsule of some other species of ray.

The black electric ray does things differently. First, the fertilized eggs mature in the uterus of the female, in warmth and safety. Then the hatched babies live on reserves from egg sacs - temporary organs designed to feed newborns. When the reserves are exhausted, other fish experience intrauterine slaughter. Brothers and sisters devour each other, because they have nothing else to eat. But black stingrays have figured out how to prevent infanticide. They secrete milk!



And these are beautiful newborn stingray babies, but they are a different species.

The walls of the uterus secrete a thick substance rich in fats and proteins. The babies will feed on it for several more months. And when they emerge, they will already be well-formed fish 25 centimeters long. They are active, bite and can already electrocute themselves no worse than adults.



Shortly before giving birth, the mother swims to coral reefs or other places with increased biodiversity. It will be easier for the babies to find food there.

This method has only one drawback: pregnancy takes a whole year! This means that black rays are vulnerable to population losses: they will take a very long time to restore the population. But in the near future, the animals are completely safe: the fish are of no commercial interest, and their habitat is vast and diverse, so it cannot be destroyed in an instant.