September 5, 2012 at 5:47 pm

Picture of the Day: An X-Ray of a Stingray

by twistedsifter

 

AN X-RAY OF A STINGRAY

 

x ray of a stingray Picture of the Day: An X Ray of a Stingray

Photograph by Ken Jones

 

 

The photograph above is an x-ray of a freshwater stingray species discovered in 2011 in the Amazon rain forest. The discovery was made by the research team of Nathan Lovejoy, a biologist at the University of Toronto in Scarborough; and Marcelo Rodrigues de Carvalho of the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil. The new species is known as Heliotrygon gomesi. Besides the pancake-like appearance, the ray is big, with slits on its belly and a tiny spine on its tail.

The stingray discovery was detailed in the Feb. 24, 2011 edition of the journal Zootaxa. [Source: Our Amazing Planet]