KOTCT
Castle Courtyard => General Discussion / Questions => Topic started by: longnine009 on November 05, 2012, 07:02:15 AM
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Why is it that submarines have a "crush depth" that
they can't exceed but stingrays can glide along in
the mud without being crushed by the weight of the
ocean? And have you ever seen videos of those
stingrays Downunder? Some of those suckers look
a lot wider to me than any submarine. ???
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Because stingrays don't have a legion of air-breathing symbionts inside them? ;)
In seriousness, all fish have a "crush depth", too. For most fish, their swim bladders physically prevent them from swimming too deep, and for most deep-ocean species the bladder would rupture if they swim too shallow. Rays don't have swim bladders, which can give some species a much wider depth range than their non-cartilaginous counterparts, but nevertheless they could not function properly if placed way outside of their natural depth zone.
Stingrays are for the most part shallow-water critters; though there are some deep-ocean species as well; even these are limited to the mid continental slopes. You won't find them out on the abyssal plains.
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Thankyou Sap. It was one of those questions that always
bugged me.