Box Fish, Cowfish & Baby Ray
What shape do you think of when you think of a fish? There are many variations on the usual cod-like shape. Shape, like colour, can be part of the camouflage of a fish. Some fish are flat and live near the bottom of the sea, some are long and thin and are fast swimmers darting about at speed. Some need to be shaped so that they can slide between rocks, weed or coral to hide.
In this collection there are three fish with interesting shapes. The fish at the top is a Cowfish, so called because from the front its face looks like a cow with two ‘horns’ sticking forwards on the front of its head. It is in the same family as the Boxfish at the bottom of the photograph. Both of these have hard shell like bodies made of flat bony plates. This makes them quite rigid and upright and quite square. The Boxfish has spines for additional protection. Both have hexagonal or honeycomb patterns on their skin.
The Ray by contrast – and this is a very small one, some species are giants weighing over 2 tons with a wing span of 6 metres – is what is called a cartilaginous fish. This means that it does not have bones. Its skeleton is made of cartilage, which is softer and more flexible. It is flat and almost diamond-like in shape because of its large fins. The Ray looks like many flatfish but is different as it lies on its belly not on its side like other flatfishes. However, like flatfishes, its underside does not need to be coloured as it spends most of its time on the seabed.
Most fish swim in an ‘S’ like shape as they move through the water with the momentum coming from the sideways movement of the head moving along the body until the final propulsion which comes from the strong movement of the tail. However these three fish move in very different ways. The ray’s tail is very thin and so does not have much pushing power so the key to the ray’s movement are its large fins which propel the fish by waving their edges up and down, almost like flying. The Cowfish and the Boxfish use their fins and upright position to roll from side to side, almost like rowing.
Ray Width:8cm
Ray Width:8cm
What shape do you think of when you think of a fish? There are many variations on the usual cod-like shape. Shape, like colour, can be part of the camouflage of a fish. Some fish are flat and live near the bottom of the sea, some are long and thin and are fast swimmers darting about at speed. Some need to be shaped so that they can slide between rocks, weed or coral to hide.
In this collection there are three fish with interesting shapes. The fish at the top is a Cowfish, so called because from the front its face looks like a cow with two ‘horns’ sticking forwards on the front of its head. It is in the same family as the Boxfish at the bottom of the photograph. Both of these have hard shell like bodies made of flat bony plates. This makes them quite rigid and upright and quite square. The Boxfish has spines for additional protection. Both have hexagonal or honeycomb patterns on their skin.
The Ray by contrast – and this is a very small one, some species are giants weighing over 2 tons with a wing span of 6 metres – is what is called a cartilaginous fish. This means that it does not have bones. Its skeleton is made of cartilage, which is softer and more flexible. It is flat and almost diamond-like in shape because of its large fins. The Ray looks like many flatfish but is different as it lies on its belly not on its side like other flatfishes. However, like flatfishes, its underside does not need to be coloured as it spends most of its time on the seabed.
Most fish swim in an ‘S’ like shape as they move through the water with the momentum coming from the sideways movement of the head moving along the body until the final propulsion which comes from the strong movement of the tail. However these three fish move in very different ways. The ray’s tail is very thin and so does not have much pushing power so the key to the ray’s movement are its large fins which propel the fish by waving their edges up and down, almost like flying. The Cowfish and the Boxfish use their fins and upright position to roll from side to side, almost like rowing.
