Rays and sharks

Rays and Sharks belong to the same group of marine creatures as each other: cartilaginous fish. The common characteristics are that they don’t have internal bones, but instead have a skeleton made of cartilage. They also generally have a thick skin without scales. And they give birth to live young, as the egg hatches inside the mother; it is possible to recognise when a shark or ray is pregnant.

Do we have sharks in Tenerife?
This is a really common question in our shop, and interestingly what people want to hear is split fairly evenly between those who really don’t want to encounter a shark and those who would love to. Well, Tenerife is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean so of course we have sharks in our waters. However most sharks favour depths of 50 to 1000 metres, so we do not normally see them on recreational dives. So the answer is yes, but it might as well be no!

Angel sharks
A notable exception is the angel shark which, due to excessive hunting in the past, is now on the critically endangered list. We would expect to see these in fairly shallow water several times per week during the mating season, i.e. Spring, though they are also seen in Winter and sometimes Autumn. They remain here for the birth of the young so that we also get to see baby angel sharks in the Spring.

The angel shark has a flattened body, much like a ray, and grows up to 1.5 metres in length. To feed, it buries itself in the sand waiting for passing prey of fish, crustaceans and molluscs. It is not at all interested in humans but can be provoked into threatening behaviour, circling and even biting if someone has been really annoying, such as waking it by shaking its tail. You have been warned!

Obviously stingrays are thus named for the well known sting that they all have near the base of their tail which is for the purpose of defending itself against predators. We know of no occasion when a ray has shown aggressive behaviour towards humans.

Stingrays have similar body shapes to each other but the common stingray is the smallest and lightest in colour (sometimes called the yellow stingray).

The round stingray is dark in colour and can grow to over 1 metre from wingtip to wingtip. They are often seen in groups and can be found in caves and overhangs.

The roughtail stingray is not so frequent but is easily identified by ummm, you guessed it, its rough tail, which can grow up to 2 metres long.

The eagle ray has a similar body shape to the stingray but has a distinctive domed head. It can be easier to spot due to the fact that it does not spend so much time buried just under the surface of the sand but will be seen swimming freely.

The butterfly ray is fantastically well camouflaged against sand, having a mottled yellow colouring. It is triangular in shape, measuring up to 1.5 metres across, with a tiny tail with a sting. A pat on the back is due if you spot one of these beautiful creatures. The marbled electric ray has a round brown coloured body with light brown spots. It is the smallest of our rays, at up to 60 cm across. So named because it can deliver an electric shock, for defence or to stun its prey, it should not be approached too closely.

Did you know...
... that the local name for stingray is Chucho. Those of you old enough to have enjoyed a certain British TV puppet show in the 60’s may now be able to make the connection between the original name of our dive centre, Aqua-Marina, and the name of our boat, Chucho!