Another common site on the reef is the blue spotted ray. The blue spotted ray is found behind the reef face in the sandy bottom. It often buries itself in the sand, as seen above, so only its eyes appear above the surface of the sand. Being bottom feeders, their mouth is perfectly designed to scoop crabs, shrimp and fish. Instead of chewing its mouth is designed for a crushing motion rather then chewing before swallowing it’s meal.
The average blue spotted ray is about 30cm (12 inches) across the back. It is most commonly seen in depths ranging from about 6m – 20m. Sometime seen gracefully swimming over the coral beds on the reef as the photo below shows.
The male fertilizes the eggs inside the female where they remain, yes inside the eggs and inside the mother, until they hatch and she gives birth to live rays, known as pups.
