PANCAKE ANIMALS

Tavishi

Contrary to popular belief, just because something is flat, doesn't mean you can put Canada liquid (maple syrup) on it and eat it. Last I checked, IHOP does NOT serve stingrays.

The world is filled has blessed us with flat animals- from flounders to flying squirrels.

Rays are the most traditional "pancake animals", referred to frequently on the internet as "flying pancakes". Rays belong to the superorder Batoidea, and angelically float over the world's oceans. The "wings" of a stingray are actually its pectoral fins, and just as sharks do, (hint: very very closely related) rays have gill slits rather than actual gills.

Rays are cartilaginous fish, just like sharks (hint again!), and so, their skeleton is made out of cartilage rather than of bone. Rays vary greatly in reproductive and social behavior based off of morphology.

For the most part, locomotion is either undulatory or oscillatory; undulatory locomotion would look like that of a jump rope being whipped back and forth, whereas oscillatory motion would look similar to a bird flapping its wings.

Not all rays sting, but those that do either do so via electricity or venomous spikes. Stingrays (RIP Steve Irwin 😔) use venomous spikes. Not all of these spikes are that dangerous, but the venom content varies by species. Each stingray has up to 3 spikes which they can shoot out. In contrast, electric rays have their electric organs in their head-pectoral fin area rather than on their tail. There's a lot more that I could discuss about electric organs of rays, but more flat animals call me!

My favorite species of ray is the bluespotted ribbontail ray, just by virtue of the pretty blue spots.

Flounders are another type of fish, but in contrast to the ray or skate, are not cartilaginous fish. Flounders, rather than soaring majestically through the sea like their ray counterparts, stay muddied in the ground, camouflaged by their usually dull colors.

Despite what Disney may claim, flounders are NOT blue and yellow and swimmy like the Ariel character.

Additionally, both of the flounder eyes are present on the ventral side of the fish, or the part that faces up to the sea. When young, however, flounder eyes are actually on both sides of the body, but as the flounder enters adulthood, one eye migrates to the other side.

Flounders are some of the more popular fish to eat, including halibut and others.

We now move away from the sea and into the trees with the lovely flying squirrel. While it is not nearly as flat as the ray or flounder, the flying squirrel does its best to increase its surface area during flight.

The flying squirrel isn't always flat; but rather, when it glides, it stretches itself out, including the furry membrane known as the patagium. The patagium is a thin membrane attached to the wrists and ankles of the squirrel, and the direction of gliding can be controlled by movement of the wrist.

Flying squirrels are undoubtedly goofy.

And finally, Dickinsonia, which I'm not sure counts. Dickinsonia was requested by an unnamed, but avid follower of the blog, and we aren't 100% sure it was an animal. Furthermore, Dickinsonia is very much extinct, and only fossils are found now of the organism. Fossils range anywhere from a few milimeters to a few meters in length, but have the same morphology throughout.

Dickinsonia, like flounders, also remained in the mud and was also likely a marine organism who just kinda drifted around. However, it can be assumed that Dickinsonia was much stupider than the modern ray or flounder.