1. Butterfly ray
2. By Natalie Richards

The butterfly ray lives in warm esturaries and oceans along the United States. The scientific name is Gymura micrura. The order of classification for it is the domain is eukaryote, and the kingdom is animalia. The phylum is chordata, and the class is Chondrichthyes Next, the order is myliobatiformes, and the family is gymouridae, and the species is micrura. The butterfly ray has soft and smooth skin and about 60-120 teeth on the upper jaw, and 52-106 teeth on the lower jaw. It eats small invertabrates, and large fish and mammals eat it. It is also exothermic, a heterotroph, and it has bilateral symmetry. A functional adaptation is that the butterfly ray can perceive and interact with their environment using sensory channels, that are touch, smell, see, and taste. A structural adaptation is that the butterfly ray has dermal denticles, (like sharks), that decrease drag and turbulence and help it swim faster. Lastly, a behavioral adaptation is that when it senses a predator coming, it will flatten down on the ocean floor to camouflage in the sand. I hope you enjoyed learning about the butterfly ray!