Review and photos by Suspsy, edited by Animaltoyforum
If you’ve ever been to an aquarium in your life, especially one with touch tanks, chances are you’re familiar with cownose rays (Rhinoptera bonasus). I’ve quite lost track of how many times over the years I’ve purchased those little cardboard containers of just three pieces of herring or squid or shrimp to feed to these endearing creatures (probably spent enough to buy at least a couple of PNSO’s big dinosaur figures).
Safari Ltd. released this cownose ray figure back in 2010 as part of their Wild Safari Sea Life range. From the tips of its distinctively shaped lobes to the end of its long tail, it measures 13 cm, and is 9 cm wide at the tips of its flapping pectoral fins. Its main colours are medium brown on top and yellowish white on the bottom. Beige shading is used on the underside of the fins and there’s also a little light brown shading running down the ray’s back. The tail is very dark brown and the eyes are light orange. Finally, black is used for the spiracles behind the eyes, the mouth, the gills, and the short but dangerous stinger near the base of the tail. Cownose rays in touch tanks have their stingers removed for safety purposes, but they eventually grow back if not maintained.
This ray is sculpted in a swimming pose with its pectoral fins undulating at the front and its tail swaying to the right. The tail is made of soft, flexible plastic, so there’s no danger whatsoever of breakage. The tips of the fins are also fairly flexible. The surface of the skin has a very slightly worn texture, but for all intents and purposes, it feels smooth.
In terms of accuracy, there are no complaints to be had here. Everything about this cownose ray’s physical features and proportions appear to be correct. This individual is a female judging from the lack of claspers on its underside.
The Wild Safari cownose ray admittedly isn’t likely to excite as much as figures of bigger, more dynamic sea creatures like a great white shark or a killer whale, or its relative the manta ray, but it’s still a beautifully crafted and accurate rendition of the real thing, and a very welcome bit of variety. It can be found at many online stores, or in stores that stock Safari Ltd merchandise
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I live near the Chesapeake Bay where cownose rays are incredibly abundant during the summer months. So much so that most fishermen consider them a nuisance. I wasn’t aware that Safari made one of these, I’ll have to track it down in my attempt to collect local animal figures. Great review!
If you really like them, they also make (made?) cownnose rays as a good luck mini–and a big one for their Incredible Creatures line! Probably because they are so common as touch-tank denizens.
Plus, a Bat ray for the venomous creatures toob!
Including the recently reviewed ornate eagle ray, Safari is apparently trying to single-handedly teach the world about non-manta myliobatids!
I have this figure in my Synoptic Collection. I don’t know much about rays, skates, and such, but I like it. And it seems to be an accurate representation from what I remember seeing at the Georgia Aquarium when I lived in Atlanta.