Olive’s wet beast fact: these absolutely shaped creatures are also known as the Shark Ray. Are they a shark or a ray? Who fuckin knows! (They are rays, not sharks)
I heard that sharks and rays are super closely related. Are skates an approximate bridging “group” between them? Or are they outside of both groups
They are all really closely related- there in all the same class known as Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fish. Sharks evolved first, approximately 350 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. Skates and ray came around at approximately the same time as each other 150 million years ago during the Jurassic period.
So skates aren't really a "bridging group", they're actually most closely related to rays!
Their most noticeable feature is their elongated rostrum, a structure formed from cartilage which has several rostral teeth along the edges. The rostrum is used for many things, like locating prey through electroreception, to slash and stun prey animals in both substrate and the water column, and even for self defence.
An ocean creature that’s covered in moss or algae or barnacles or other critters they formed a symbiotic/commensalism relationship with is something that’s so ethereal to me. Like the halo on top of an angel or sth. They Complete each other