Stargazers have unique electric organs, modified from their eye muscles, that present diving naturalists with a very curious puzzle. Stargazers are ambush predators, lying quietly on the bottom until a potential prey fish blunders within striking range then using the short, broad tail to launch a lightning-fast 'surprise' attack from close range. Remarkably, the duration of the electrical burst which occurs as the mouth is opened correlates with the length of the prey fish. Whatever its real significance, the electric discharge of stargazers is certainly not used for stunning prey or electrolocation and the work of Pickens and McFarland provides us with an amusing posibility. Perhaps if the stargazer can 'announce' the size of its prey, maybe it can also 'lie'.
Fishermen are notorious for exaggerating the size of 'The One that Got Away'.
This ray is frequently encountered by divers from North Carolina to Argentina. Some 37 to 40 species of electrogenic rays are known from shallow waters around the world. The ancient Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians were fascinated with electric rays, believing that these 'numbfish' could bewitch both prey and fishermen. I'll shut up now.