Not just Shark Pictures:
Elasmodiver contains photos of sharks, skates, rays, and chimaera's
from around the world. It began as a simple web based field guide to
help divers find the best places to encounter different species of
sharks and rays but it has slowly evolved into a much larger project
containing information on all aspects of shark diving and
photography. There are now more than a thousand shark pictures
and sections on shark evolution, biology, and conservation. There is
a large library of reviewed shark books, a constantly outdated shark
taxonomy page, a monster list of shark links, and deeper in the site
there are numerous articles and stories about shark encounters.
Elasmodiver is now so difficult to check for updates, that new
information and pictures are listed
on an Elasmodiver Updates Page that
can be accessed here:
If you're
looking for a broader range of marine life pictures the following
links represent a new area that contains pictures on other marine
organisms and on marine habitats. This expansion of Elasmodiver is
in its first stages but will eventually include pages on everything
from sea stars to nudibranches. Creating this portal will take time
and for now it consists of a token offering of fish pictures. Please
return regularly to enjoy the progress.
Identification:
Pectoral fins narrow and rounded. Subrostral lobe (beak) short and rounded.
Dorsum uniformly brown without markings. Trailing edges of pectoral and pelvic
fins dusky. Ventrum pale. One or more spines on tail behind single small rounded
dorsal fin.
Size: Wing
span to 150cm.
Habitat:
Shallow bays and estuaries,
sometimes near
rocky
reef faces, and over sand flats (where it feeds). To 300m depth.
Abundance and distribution:
A common species. Occurs from the southern North Sea to South Africa including
the Mediterranean.
Behavior:
Feeds on clams, snails, crabs, worms, sea squirts, and small bony fishes.
Excavates it's prey from under the sand by flapping its powerful pectoral fins.
Reproduction: Ovoviviparous.
The male Common Eagle Ray possesses large tubercles (modified skin denticles)
that they may use to help them lock onto the female while mating.
Observations:
Photographs: Los Gigantes, Tenerife,
Canary Islands, Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Similar species:
There are a number of other eagle / bull / bat rays some of which are very
difficult to tell apart. The best reference is geographic location.
Reaction to divers:
Quite timid and difficult to approach except at feeds where the individual rays
have been habituated to divers. See Below.
Diving logistics: A great place
to see and photograph common eagle rays is on one of the organized ray feeds at
Los Gigantes in the Canary Islands. Los Gigantes Diving offers freestyle feeds
once or twice per week. The divemaster takes a huge barrel of fish scraps to
60ft and offers them to the eagerly gathering ray species. After a while the
human participants usually help themselves to some fish and wander off to
interact with the rays on their own. The feed can be rather chaotic but the ray
action is almost guaranteed. Other than numerous Common Eagle Rays, the
attending species include common stingrays, roughtail rays, round stingrays and
occasionally angel sharks, butterfly rays, and marbled torpedo rays.
Very occasionally a large Bull Ray swims by.
Further reading:
Reef Sharks and Rays of the World. Scott W. Michael. Sea Challengers.
Sharks
and Rays - Elasmobranch Guide of the World. Ralf M. Hennemann. IKAN.
