Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.
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Our museums and galleries house fascinating collections, from living bugs to The Beatles, fine art to photography, the Titanic to ancient Egypt.
Raywatch
This study is the first of its kind in Merseyside and is vital for the Thornback Ray, a species which is now of significant conservation concern.
At World Museum's aquarium, the most popular animal display is the rays! Few people realise they are local, living in the Mersey River, and we know little about their migration patterns.
The results of this project would provide a significant insight into their migration patterns both in Merseyside and nationwide, which is important for their conservation management. Since the 1980's, the number of Thornback Rays have declined by 80% in the North Sea alone due to over fishing.
Tagging a ray
Our Team
Rachel Ball is Aquarium Curator at World Museum. She joined the team in 2007. Previously she studied Marine Biology at Swansea University and has a Masters Degree in Research from Cranfield University, specialising in embryology of thornback rays. Prior to coming to the museum she worked at Blue Planet Aquarium in Ellesmere Port for four years and has a life long passion for cartilaginous fish - sharks, skates and rays.
Rachel, Phil and Clare (in the shark suit!) promoting Shark Week at the aquarium
Popular Questions
They are carnivores & hunt mainly on the bottom of the ocean. They mostly eat shellfish and worms that live in the sand along with the occasional fish. The rays in the WML Aquarium are fed sand eels, shrimps such as krill, cockles and squid. Twice per week they are given extra vitamin supplements disguised in their food, this ensures they receive the correct nutrition that would normally be present in live foods but is lost due to ours being initially frozen.
Thornback rays do not have a sting, they are technically skates and lay eggs as opposed to stingrays which give birth to live young.
The Sharktrust is the UK's leading charity working to advance the worldwide conservation of sharks through science, education, influence and action. We are working closely with the Sharktrust to tag rays in the Liverpool Bay area. Tagging will help us to study the rays and recommend ways to protect them.
Previous studies of Thornback Rays in the southern North Sea indicate that there are localised subpopulations with limited mixing between them. Results from this project will indicate whether there are separate populations of Thornback Rays in the Liverpool Bay area which will have implications for their management and conservation.
Tagging rays also has the potential to indicate important geographical areas and time frames (seasons) for males/females, juveniles/adults which can all be used to suggest 'critical habitat' or suggest seasonal/area restrictions on fishing activity. We are working in cooperation with the commercial industry to encourage sustainable practices and ensure the future viability of the ray fishery.
We are also collecting tissue samples when we tag rays locally. This is part of an exciting project which will help us to understand whether geographically isolated populations of rays are actually becoming genetically different. Preventing loss of genetic diversity is hugely important for the conservation of a species and is particularly significant for thornback rays which have already suffered substantial population declines.
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