Little rays of sunshine: Baby flat fish who appear to be smiling are hit with aquarium visitors
Six tiny thornback rays have hatched at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre, Norfolk, in the last three days during a 'baby boom'
Cute little creatures appear to be smiling but their 'eyes' are in fact gills
There must be something in the water. These little rays of sunshine appear to be smiling at just days old.
The tiny rays have arrived during a baby boom at Great Yarmouth’s Sealife Centre, Norfolk, drawing in visitors from far and wide.
At least six Thornbacked rays have hatched over the last three days alone.
The fascinating little creatures were born during a baby boom at Great Yarmouth Sea Life Centre, in Norfolk
And visitors eager for a glimpse of their seemingly happy faces have been shocked to find what looks like eyes are in fact gills.
Curator Christine Pitcher said: 'We took more ray eggs out of our main display tank this morning, and at least 20 of them seem to be fertile.
'It’s the right time of year for a baby boom, but I don’t recall ever having so many youngsters appearing at once before.
The miniature rays might appear to be smiling but in fact what looks like eyes are in fact tiny gills
A closer look at the 'face' reveals that there are no eyes on the underside of the tiny fish - there are on the upper side of the flat fish
'It’s the ultimate endorsement for our husbandry techniques and the quality of water and theming in our displays,' she added.
Thoughthe fish appear to be smiling, what looks to be it’s eyes are in fact gills for breathing on it’s underside. The rays' real eyes are on the front of it’s body.
The fish will live in a nursery tank until they are big enough to join the adult rays in huge open top tank.
Staff at the Sea Life Centre are delighted with the sudden arrival of so many newborn rays, and are hoping the baby boom will extend to the centre's nurse shark which they have been trying to mate
Thornbacked rays are the most common of nine species of rays in British waters. They can grow up to 1.2metres.
They get their name because their upper body is covered in tiny prickles.
Christine and her team are hoping the baby boom will rub off on their largest resident Aphropdite the nurse shark who has been mating with male Hercules.
'That would certainly be the "happy event" of the year,' she said.
Disguised: The tiny thornback rays will eventually look like this one, brown and speckled on top, where their real eyes are clearly visible作者: alfredxp 時間: 2013-7-17 11:27 PM
係啊, 好似娃娃笑. 作者: kevinongkc 時間: 2013-7-19 12:25 AM
看起来好像还有2條腿作者: shu6688 時間: 2013-7-20 09:16 AM
Thornback ray (或 thornback skate ) 學名Raja clavata,中文名也有稱牠們為背棘鰩,牠們天生的smiling face ,實在討人喜愛,反面的兩鰓,比身體前面的兩眼更像是眼晴,真的很容易讓人混淆不清
