By Miles (3rd Grade)
Steve Irwin, an Australian wildlife expert, died at age 44 in September 2006 while filming an underwater scene, when a stingray pierced his heart. For a man who made his living tangling with some of the most ferocious creatures on earth, Steve Irwin met his end at the hands of an unlikely suspect. This tragedy starts my research of stingray.
Stingray is a kind of fish. It is a cartilaginous fish with a flat body and long barbed tail. Some stingrays are shaped like diamonds or kites. Others are round like pancakes. The eyes of a stingray are located on the top of its body and the mouth is on its underside. Stingray breathes through gills on the bottom of its body. Its skin is soft and slick. The largest stingray can be as big as a bedroom. The smallest stingray would fit on a saucer. It can be found in tropical and warm temperate waters such as Australia’s ocean.
Stingray has two sensors by its mouth. The sensors are for catching food like crabs, fishes, clams, worms, oysters, and other invertebrates. Also they are for detecting predators such as whales and sharks. Usually stingray is shy. It tends to hide or swim away. When it hides, it covers its flat body with sand. When it swims away, it is fast. But if a stingray can not escape immediately, it will defend itself by stinging the threat with a venomous spine. All stingrays are armed with at least one venomous spine. Short-tail stingrays possess two tail spines.
Stingrays are calm fish and can be petted in some aquariums. For safety, their stingers are removed. But in oceans, their stingers (barbs) are not removed so it can be dangerous. Stingray spend most of their time lying flat at the bottom of the shallow ocean, partially covered in sand. Since a stingray’s body is the same color as the ocean floor and it keeps very still, this fish is hard to see. When people step on it, stingray will whip its tail up and use its spine to stab at the threat. Death by stingray is rare, with only one or two fatal attacks reported each year. Steve Irwin got stung because the stingray mistook Steve Irwin’s shadow for a tiger shark, its main prey. The stingray’s venom was injected into Steve Irwin’s heart.
Stingrays are not generally aggressive, but may attempt to use the spine in defence if it is afraid or agitated. Steve Irwin died because of stingray. But he said, “I have no fear of losing my life – if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, I will save it.” He also said, “When you touch an animal, that animal touches your heart.” Stingray “touched” Steve Irwin’s heart, and it also touched my heart.
Resources:
- Stingrays! Underwater fliers by Carole Gerber
- Splash! Discover rays by Susan Gray
- Stingrays by Jennifer Zeiger
- Life under the sea by Cari Meister
- Livescience.com by Erin banks Rusby
- Who.com.au by Rhys Makay
- Brainyquote.com
- reddit.com