Bluespotted Lagoon Ray

Photo: Elias Levy · CC BY

These brilliantly blue-spotted rays rest buried in the sandy inter-reef patches with only their eyes and spiracles visible, periodically emerging to hunt in the shallow water over the reef flat. They feed primarily on buried worms and small crustaceans and play an important bioturbation role by turning over sediment as they dig, releasing nutrients that support the reef's filter-feeding invertebrate community. Their vivid blue spots are thought to function as aposematic warning colouration advertising their venomous tail spine to potential predators.