Wikipedia:Peer review/Spotted eagle ray/archive1

Spotted eagle ray
This peer review discussion has been closed. I've listed this article for peer review to get some suggestions and ideas. I am hoping to eventually get this article to GA status. Any suggestions you have to help me reach this goal are greatly appreciated!

Thanks, Marissa927 (talk) 01:44, 31 October 2011 (UTC)


 * The following suggesstions come to mind.
 * All contents to be referenced. Have marked up a bit(mainly moved from lead).
 * Add more content, maybe use the Tee-Van reference and/or IUCN, these two refs have lots of content.
 * Alt text on images per WP:ALT.
 * Many sentences in body of article require reorganisation.
 * Write lead per WP:LEAD (best after body of article complete and stable).


 * Requires a copy edit and redundancy check.
 * Check references information and where applicable filli in. i.e publisher, year, isbn, pages


 * Use cite template i.e elasmodiver ref convert to
 * Refs like simplify to
 * The range is difficult to explain in an easy to understand fashion with words. A range map would be welcome, like this.
 * Regards, SunCreator (talk) 00:46, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! Do I need any copyright forms for that range map? I have been looking for a way to get one on, but I'm stuck. I can go simplify the references right away. Marissa927 (talk) 02:59, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Comments from Malleus Fatuorum
 * Lead
 * The lead obviously needs to be expanded, as SunCreator has already pointed out; the best approach is to look at each section of the finished article in turn and summarise the important points in a sentence or two. But as SunCreator also says, easier to do when the article is otherwise finished.
 * "... found in shallow waters of depths down to 80 meters (260 ft)." I've never really been sure what this is trying to say, as it seems incompatible with the rays travelling great distances in the open ocean. Is it as simple as "found at depths down to 80 meters (260 ft)"? If so, why "found in shallow waters", or do they never swim in water deeper than 80 meters?


 * Description and behavior
 * I think you need to bring stuff together here. For instance, we're told about the ray's tail in the first paragraph, then we move on to the gills and the stingers. But then right at the end of the second paragraph we come back to the tail again, but this time with a venomous spines are mentioned. Are these the barbed stingers talked about earlier?
 * We seem to skim over these stingers rather too quickly for my taste: do we not know what venom they deliver? Are they on the dorsal or ventral side of the tail? Are they used only for defence? How does the ray use its tail to make use of these barbs? How long are they?
 * "The spotted eagle ray can be identified by the numerous white spots or rings on its blue dorsal surface, white ventral surface, long, whip-like tail, and distinctive head that somewhat resembles a bill." Haven't we been told all of this in the first paragraph?
 * "The front half of the long and wing-like pectoral disk has five small gills in its underside". Maybe I'm missing something here, but the pictures appear to show five gills on each side of the pectoral disk.


 * Reproduction
 * "One male, or sometimes several, will pursue a female. When the male approaches the female ...". Which male of the several that may have been pursuing her? Does she swim away until she's caught by one of them?
 * What's the gestation period?
 * "... he uses his upper tooth plate to grab her dorsum". I think this might be a bit impenetrable for a non-biologist: he holds on to her back with his teeth? Upper teeth? I'm really struggling to visualise this. In general I think we have to do a bit more to explain some of these biological terms.
 * The male will then roll the female over by grabbing her pectoral fin". Which is her pectoral fin? The previous section was talking about a pectoral disk.
 * How many young does the female give birth to? What size are they? How long does it take for a ray to mature? When is the breeding season?

Thank you! I will work on fixing all these before I put it up for GA! As for the lead, I will just keep fixing it as the article grows and changes. Great advice! Marissa927 (talk) 04:36, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

So for the Description, I'm going to move the parts about the tail and stingers all together back at the beginning. I'll see how that looks and see if it works better. Marissa927 (talk) 15:04, 8 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Feeding and diet
 * Some repetition: "Spotted eagle ray preys mainly upon bivalves ... The rays eat bivalves ...".
 * "The jaws of these rays have been adapted to help them eat hard shells such as mollusks". Mollusks aren't hard shells.


 * Behavior
 * "The movement of these rays is influenced by the tides. One tracking study showed that spotted eagle ray was more active during high tides". Movement and activity aren't quite as synonymous as is being implied here.
 * "These rays have several distinctive behaviors, including digging with their snouts in the sand of the ocean." Why do they do that? Looking for food? If so, shouldn't it be in the Feeding and diet section?
 * Has nobody speculated on a possible explanation for the rays' pelvic thrusts or jumping?
 * "This jump is often repeated multiple times in a row at high speeds." Does that look OK to you? What does "in a row" bring to the party?


 * Human interaction
 * You probably ought to add something about game fishing for the rays, and that their rarely eaten because their flesh is not considered so palatable. Therefore they're more often used for fishmeal and oil.


 * Habitat and distribution
 * Spotted eagle rays are found globally in tropical regions, including the Gulf of Mexico, Hawaii, Atlantic Africa, the Indian Ocean, Oceania, and the Pacific west coast." This all seems to be repeated in the following paragraph.


 * Conservation
 * "They are also common in commercial marine life trade". Why "also"? Where else are they common?
 * "In South Africa, a reduction in the number of protective shark nets has reduced the number of deaths". That might need a little explanation, as it seems counter intuitive that as the rays are preyed on by sharks reducing the number of shark nets makes the rays less vulnerable.


 * References
 * Is elasmodiver a reliable source?
 * There's one dead link.
 * Ref #16 needs full details (publisher, last accessdate), but I'm not sure that Seaworld would be considered a reliable source anyway.

Thank you! The elsasmodiver, I didn't know about it either, but that was one of the few references that came with the article so I left it. I'll go work on the other issues. I apologize for not making as many edits, but I have been quite busy with other homework! I'll try and pick up the pace a little bit again!Marissa927 (talk) 03:56, 10 November 2011 (UTC)