Marine Life - Eagle Rays

We get to see many amazing creatures on our trips. Rays are one of the ones that seem so foreign and exotic. Eagle rays, however have a very cute face (when seen from the front) and seem quite curious.

We are fortunate enough to encounter these in both our Thailand and Komodo dive centers.

The eagle rays are a group of cartilaginous fish that are part of the family of Myliobatidae. Eagle rays are basically large species of rays that unlike many ray species, tend to live in the open ocean rather than on the bottom of the sea.

The Genus name of this type of fish is Aetobatus which is a word derived from the Greek meaning eagle (aetos) and ray (batis).

General Description

The eagle ray has a very long tail and a well defined body that ranges from 48 centimetres to 9 meters in length.  They have inky blue bodies and a long tail that can reach up to 5 meters in length. The eagle ray also has a very angular disc and a long broad snout rounded like a duck's bill, with a “v” shaped flap.

It has a pectoral disc with sharply curved, angular corners, and no caudal fin; their jaws contain a single row of flat, chevron-shaped teeth. Each tooth is a crescent-shaped plate joined into a band.

The eagle ray swims by moving its two wings vertically - sometimes they break the surface of the sea and give the impression of two sharks traveling together. The eagle ray can also jump out and across the surface of the water.

Wicked Diving