Home > Illustration > Wildlife > Ocean Animals > Sharks & Rays > Bat Ray

Bat Ray

Bat Ray line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Bat Ray full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Bat Ray was completed on 6.24.2011. I have encountered these animals a few times in the Bay Area, occasionally seeing them in the San Francisco Bay swimming near the shore at the surface. A friend of mine recently caught a Bat Ray when fishing (which he threw back!) so that inspired me to create this drawing. I hope this scene captures an idealized vision of this amazing fish. The drawing is based on a photo by Mark Estes.

Information about the Bat Ray:

The Bat Ray is a is a stingray found in muddy estuaries and bays, kelp beds and rocky-bottomed shoreline in the eastern Pacific Ocean, usually along the coastline from the Gulf of California up to Oregon. They can live in waters with various levels of saline, so they are able to venture far into brackish waters searching for food. Bat Rays feed on a variety of sea animals, such as crustaceans, mollusks and small fish. They beat their large pectoral fins (or "wings") along the sandy bottoms of the ocean to expose their prey. Like other rays, they have a sharp stinger in their tails, which can be used to defend itself against potential predators. Bat Rays are fairly placid animals and are very popular in ocean themed parks (such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium) and will tolerate being touched by humans.