It’s baby-boom season for the eagle rays in the I&J Ocean Exhibit at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town and visitors are doting over the pregnant sea creatures.
Even more fascinating is watching them, if you are lucky enough to score a close encounter you can spot their unborn babies moving around in their bellies.
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The Two Oceans Aquarium are encouraging visitors to pop in to admire these incredible fish.
Eagle rays typically give birth every two years, after an almost year-long gestation, when they give birth to between four and seven live pups. That’s right, eagle rays don’t lay eggs like many other rays, says the aquarium.
Baby rays will first spend some time in the behind the scenes quarantine area to ensure they are healthy
On a post on their blog page, they said: “When baby rays are born at the Two Oceans Aquarium, they will first spend some time in our behind the scenes quarantine area to ensure they are healthy. They will then move to the “Ray Pool” in our Skretting Diversity Gallery when they weigh about half a kilogram, where the public can see them, and finally, they will move into the I&J Ocean Exhibit when they are older.
They stay in the exhibit for a while because they have a slow growth rate, and have a longer lifespan – they can live up to 25 years.
“On a case-by-case basis, the eagle rays are released into the wild when aquarists determine that their size and behaviour indicates this is the best move for them – but as the breeding indicates, they are quite happy here for the early years of their lives!” – the post concluded.
