Presentation Details
| Buried Alive: Sand Burial Behaviors of the Round Stingray (Urobatis halleri) Noah Benasfre, Benjamin Perlman. California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, California, USA |
Abstract
Round stingrays (Urobatis halleri) are commonly occurring along Southern California’s coastlines in nearshore sandy habitats where humans also frequent throughout the year. In a previous study, we observed that the stingrays buried themselves in what appeared to be a highly controlled behavior to achieve a precise relocation of sand particles to cover their body. We asked how do round stingrays bury themselves in the sand? Two high-speed Edgertronic cameras were used to film the sand burial, a voluntary behavior, of n=8 rays (n=4 males and n=4 females) of various sizes in both the lateral and dorsal views at 250 fps for a duration of 4.5 seconds. Our videos were imported to MATLAB software where we tracked the snout, pectoral fin, and tail motion in 3D for the entire sand burial behavior. Results showed that the sand burial behavior was a highly controlled set of simultaneous movements characterized by the undulation of the pectoral fins, a shovel-like motion of the snout, and oscillation of the tail. The round stingrays displayed a well-coordinated set of motor control systems to bury themselves, most likely for camouflage from predators and potential prey.
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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