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Rays look like huge birds in slow flight when they
swim. They have huge triangular side fins which flap
like ___1___ when the rays swim.
Their bodies ___2___ flat and their mouth and gill
openings are usually
___3___ on the underside of the body. They have a thin,
whip-like tail
which is usually armed ___4___ a poisonous spine. Rays cannot swim
___5___. They are slow, graceful
swimmers.
They are not hunters so they do not ___6___ to swim at
high speed to
chase their prey. They feed on small ___7___ creatures
which are filtered
as the water containing these small creatures ___8___
the mouth and passes over ___9___ gills.
There are not more than 20 ___10___ of rays. Most of
them have
taken to live permanently near the ___11___ of the sea.
There are,
however, ___12___ that prefer to live near the upper
layers of the sea.
Eagle rays and manta rays, for example, are found to
swim ___13___
the water surface most of the ___14___. They even leap
out of the
water and 'fly' for a short ___15___ before vanishing
into the sea again.
Some rays are very ___16___. They have a 'wing span' of
about
20 meters and weigh as ___17___ as a rhinoceros. Because
of their
___18___ and look, these rays are also
___19___ devil fish
or vampire rays. But according to skin divers, rays
are mostly gentle, harmless creatures. This is shown
by some divers holding on to a ray to get a free
___20___. |
