Editing Stingray (section)

=== Spiracles ===
[[Spiracle (vertebrates)|Spiracle]]s are small openings that allow some fish and amphibians to breathe. Stingray spiracles are openings just behind its eyes. The respiratory system of stingrays is complicated by having two separate ways to take in water to use the oxygen. Most of the time stingrays take in water using their mouth and then send the water through the gills for [[gas exchange]]. This is efficient, but the mouth cannot be used when hunting because the stingrays bury themselves in the ocean sediment and wait for prey to swim by.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/long_nico/Adaptation.htm|title = Stingray|website = bioweb.uwlax.edu|access-date = 2018-05-12|archive-date = 2018-07-23|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180723120346/http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/long_nico/Adaptation.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> So the stingray switches to using its spiracles. With the spiracles, they can draw water free from sediment directly into their gills for gas exchange.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution|last=Kardong|first=Kenneth | name-list-style = vanc |publisher=McGraw-Hill Education|year=2015|isbn=978-0-07-802302-6|location=New York|pages=426}}</ref> These alternate ventilation organs are less efficient than the mouth, since spiracles are unable to pull the same volume of water. However, it is enough when the stingray is quietly waiting to ambush its prey.

The flattened bodies of stingrays allow them to effectively conceal themselves in their environments. Stingrays do this by agitating the sand and hiding beneath it. Because their eyes are on top of their bodies and their mouths on the undersides, stingrays cannot see their prey after capture; instead, they use smell and electroreceptors ([[ampullae of Lorenzini]]) similar to those of [[shark]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bedore CN, Harris LL, Kajiura SM | title = Behavioral responses of batoid elasmobranchs to prey-simulating electric fields are correlated to peripheral sensory morphology and ecology | journal = Zoology | volume = 117 | issue = 2 | pages = 95–103 | date = April 2014 | pmid = 24290363 | doi = 10.1016/j.zool.2013.09.002 | bibcode = 2014Zool..117...95B }}</ref> Stingrays settle on the bottom while feeding, often leaving only their eyes and tails visible. [[Coral reef]]s are favorite feeding grounds and are usually shared with sharks during high tide.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Stingray City - Altering Stingray Behavior & Physiology?|url=https://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-scuba-ocean-news/stingray_city___altering_stingray_behavior___physiology/|access-date=2023-02-14|website=DivePhotoGuide
| first= Jason | last=Heller
| date = 14 April 2009 
|language=en}}</ref>

{{clear}}