Captured 5/26/11, on my first visit to the beautiful Aquarium of the Pacific in beautiful Long Beach, California. A ZOOM would be to your distinct advantage. One of three species that inhabit what they call the Ray Touchpool, located on the second floor of the Aquarium. Visitors are allowed to reach into the pool and gently touch and feel the animals with two fingers. The bat ray, Myliobatis californica, is an eagle ray found in muddy or sandy sloughs, estuaries and bays, kelp beds and rocky-bottomed shoreline in the eastern Pacific Ocean, between the Oregon coast and the Gulf of California. It is also found in the area around the Galapagos Islands. The largest specimens can grow to a wingspan of 1.8m/5.07ft and up and a mass of 91kg/200.6lb and up. They more typically range from 9.07kg/20lb -13.61kg/30lb. Bat rays are euryhaline, i.e. they are able to live in environments with a wide range of salinities. The bat ray can live up to 23 years. Bat rays feed on mollusks, crustaceans and small fish on the seabed, using their winglike pectoral fins to move sand and expose prey animals. They may also dig trenches up to 20 cm deep to expose buried prey, such as clams. Their teeth are flat and pavement-like, forming tightly-packed rows that are used for crushing and grinding prey. The crushed shells are then ejected and the flesh consumed. As with all elasmobranchs, these teeth fall out and are replaced continuously. While the bat ray, like other stingrays, has a venomous spine in its tail (near the base), it is not considered dangerous and uses the spine only when attacked or frightened. Source: Wikipedia free encyclopedia -------------------- The polarizer on my Pentax K110D SLR came in most handy on this shoot. While photographing and doing postwork on these creatures, I would often hum or sing the theme song from the old 1960's Batman television series. Totziens, thankx for clicking on, and for any and all favs and laudatory comments.