Japanese sleeper ray
Amazing fact
The electric organs of the Japanese sleeper ray are made from modified muscle cells.
高知大学
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The electric organs of the Japanese sleeper ray are made from modified muscle cells.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese sleeper ray
- Scientific name
- Narke japonica
- Japanese name
- シビレエイ
- Group
- Ocean animals
- Class
- Chondrichthyes
- Order
- Torpediniformes
- Family
- Narcinidae
- Genus
- Narke
It lives in the seas from Honshu to Kyushu and along the coasts of the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan and China.
It uses electric organs in its pectoral fins to stun small fish and other prey, and then eats them.
How the Japanese sleeper ray lives
It lives on sandy and muddy seabeds near the coast. It also eats worms and small crustaceans. Its electricity is also thought to help defend it against predators. It gives birth to live young rather than laying eggs outside its body.
高知大学Basic data
- Diet
- Small fish and other animals
- Range
- East China Sea, southern Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, Chinese coast, and elsewhere
Where the Japanese sleeper ray has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- シビレエイ
- 简体中文
- 日本电鲼
- 繁體中文
- 日本單鰭電鱝
- 한국어
- 전기가오리
- Deutsch
- Japanischer Schläferrochen
- Italiano
- Torpedine giapponese
- Русский
- Японская нарка
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 鳥羽水族館 — シビレエイChecked: 2026-11-04
- 高知大学 — シビレエイChecked: 2026-11-07
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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