1.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
2.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
3.
Public aquarium
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A public aquarium is the aquatic counterpart of a zoo, which houses living aquatic animal and plant specimens for public viewing. Most public aquariums feature tanks larger than those kept by home aquarists, since the first public aquariums were built in the mid-19th century, they have become popular and their numbers have increased. Most modern accredited aquariums stress conservation issues and educating the public, the first public aquarium was opened in London Zoo in May 1853, the Fish House, as it came to be known, was constructed much like a greenhouse. P. T. Barnum quickly followed in 1856 with the first American aquarium as part of his established Barnums American Museum, in 1859, the Aquarial Gardens were founded in Boston. The old Berlin Aquarium opened in 1869, the building site was to be Unter den Linden, in the centre of town, not at the Berlin Zoo. The aquariums first director, Alfred Brehm, former director of the Hamburg Zoo from 1863 to 1866, with its emphasis on education, the public aquarium was designed like a grotto, part of it made of natural rock. The Geologische Grotte depicted the strata of the earths crust, the grotto also featured birds and pools for seals. The Aquarium Unter den Linden was a three-story building, machinery and water tanks were on the ground floor, aquarium basins for the fish on the first floor. Because of Brehms special interest in birds, a huge aviary, the Artis aquarium at Amsterdam Zoo was constructed inside a Victorian building in 1882, and was renovated in 1997. At the end of the 19th century the Artis aquarium was considered state-of-the-art, prior to its closing on September 30,2013, the oldest American aquarium was the National Aquarium in Washington, D. C. founded in 1873. This was followed by the opening of public aquariums, San Francisco, Woods Hole, New York, La Jolla, Honolulu, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco. For many years, the Shedd Aquarium was the largest aquarium in the United States until the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta opened 2005, the first Japanese public aquarium, a small freshwater aquarium, was opened at the Ueno Zoo in 1882. In 2005, the Georgia Aquarium, with more than 8 million U. S. gallons of marine and fresh water, the aquariums notable specimens include whale sharks and beluga whales. Modern aquarium tanks can hold millions of litres of water and can house large species, including dolphins and this is accomplished through thick, clear acrylic glass windows. Aquatic and semiaquatic mammals, including otters, and seals are cared for at aquariums. Some establishments, such as the Oregon Coast Aquarium or the Monterey Bay Aquarium, have aquatic aviaries, modern aquariums also include land animals and plants that spend time in or near the water. For marketing purposes, many aquariums promote special exhibits, in addition to their permanent collections, some have aquatic versions of a petting zoo. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a tank filled with common types of rays which visitors are encouraged to touch
4.
Museum
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Most large museums are located in major cities throughout the world and more local ones exist in smaller cities, towns and even the countryside. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public, the goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public. There are many types of museums, including art museums, natural history museums, science museums, war museums, the city with the largest number of museums is Mexico City with over 128 museums. According to The World Museum Community, there are more than 55,000 museums in 202 countries, the English museum comes from the Latin word, and is pluralized as museums. The first museum/library is considered to be the one of Plato in Athens, however, Pausanias gives another place called Museum, namely a small hill in Classical Athens opposite to the Akropolis. The hill was called Mouseion after Mousaious, a man who used to sing on the hill, the purpose of modern museums is to collect, preserve, interpret, and display items of artistic, cultural, or scientific significance for the education of the public. The purpose can also depend on ones point of view, to a family looking for entertainment on a Sunday afternoon, a trip to a local history museum or large city art museum could be a fun, and enlightening way to spend the day. To city leaders, a healthy museum community can be seen as a gauge of the health of a city. To a museum professional, a museum might be seen as a way to educate the public about the museums mission, Museums are, above all, storehouses of knowledge. In 1829, James Smithsons bequest, that would fund the Smithsonian Institution, stated he wanted to establish an institution for the increase, Museums of natural history in the late 19th century exemplified the Victorian desire for consumption and for order. Gathering all examples of classification of a field of knowledge for research. As American colleges grew in the 19th century, they developed their own natural history collections for the use of their students, while many large museums, such as the Smithsonian Institution, are still respected as research centers, research is no longer a main purpose of most museums. While there is a debate about the purposes of interpretation of a museums collection, there has been a consistent mission to protect. Much care, expertise, and expense is invested in efforts to retard decomposition in aging documents, artifacts, artworks. All museums display objects that are important to a culture, as historian Steven Conn writes, To see the thing itself, with ones own eyes and in a public place, surrounded by other people having some version of the same experience can be enchanting. Museum purposes vary from institution to institution, some favor education over conservation, or vice versa. For example, in the 1970s, the Canada Science and Technology Museum favored education over preservation of their objects and they displayed objects as well as their functions. One exhibit featured a printing press that a staff member used for visitors to create museum memorabilia
5.
Whirlpool
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A whirlpool is a body of swirling water produced by the meeting of opposing currents. The vast majority of whirlpools are not very powerful and very small whirlpools can easily be seen when a bath or a sink is draining, more powerful ones in seas or oceans may be termed maelstroms. Vortex is the term for any whirlpool that has a downdraft. Smaller whirlpools also appear at the base of waterfalls and can also be observed downstream from manmade structures such as weirs. In the case of waterfalls, like Niagara Falls, these whirlpools can be quite strong. Moskstraumen is a system of whirlpools in the open seas in the Lofoten Islands off the Norwegian coast. It is the second strongest whirlpool in the world with flow currents reaching speeds as high as 32 km/h and it finds mention in several books and movies. The maelstrom of Saltstraumen is the Earths strongest maelstrom, and is located close to the Arctic Circle,33 km round the bay on the Highway 17, south-east of the city of Bodø, Norway. The strait at its narrowest is 150 m in width and water funnels through the four times a day. It is estimated that 400 million cubic meters of water passes the narrow strait during this event, the water is creamy in colour and most turbulent during high tide, which is witnessed by thousands of tourists. It reaches speeds of 40 km/h, with speed of about 13 km/h. As navigation is dangerous in this only a small slot of time is available for large ships to pass through. Its impressive strength is caused by the worlds strongest tide occurring in the location during the new. A narrow channel of 3 km length connects the outer Saltfjord with its extension, the Corryvreckan is a narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba, in Argyll and Bute, on the northern side of the Gulf of Corryvreckan, Scotland. It is the third-largest whirlpool in the world, though it was initially classified as non-navigable by the British navy it was later categorized as extremely dangerous. A documentary team from Scottish independent producers Northlight Productions once threw a mannequin into the Corryvreckan with a life jacket, the mannequin was swallowed and spat up far down current with a depth gauge reading of 262 metres with evidence of being dragged along the bottom for a great distance. Old Sow whirlpool is located between Deer Island, New Brunswick, Canada, and Moose Island, Eastport, Maine and it is given the epithet pig-like as it makes a screeching noise when the vortex is at its full fury. The smaller whirlpools around this Old Sow are known as Piglets. the Naruto whirlpools are located in the Naruto Strait near Awaji Island in Japan, which have speeds of 26 km/h
6.
Copenhagen Airport
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Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark, the entire Zealand, the Øresund Region, and a large part of southern Sweden. It is the largest airport in the Nordic countries with 29 million passengers in 2016 and it is the third-busiest airport in Northern Europe, and by far the busiest for international travel in Scandinavia. The airport is located on the island of Amager, just 8 kilometres south of Copenhagen city centre, the airport covers an area of 11.8 square kilometres. Most of the airport is situated in the municipality of Tårnby, the airport is the main hub out of three used by Scandinavian Airlines and is also an operating base for Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia and Norwegian Air Shuttle. Copenhagen Airport handles around 60 scheduled airlines, and has a maximum operation capability of 83 operations/hour, unlike other Scandinavian airports, most of the airports passengers are international. In 2015,6. 1% of passengers travelled to and from other Danish airports,83. 5% to/from other European airports, the airport is owned by Københavns Lufthavne, which also operates Roskilde Airport. Copenhagen Airport was originally called Kastrup Airport, since it is located in the town of Kastrup. The formal name of the airport is still Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, to distinguish it from Roskilde Airport, whose name is Copenhagen Airport. The airport was inaugurated 20 April 1925 and was one of the first civil airports in the world. It consisted of a large, impressive terminal built of wood, a couple of hangars, a balloon mast, a landing stage. The grass on the runways was kept short by sheep, which were shepherded away before take-offs, from 1932 to 1939, takeoffs and landings increased from 6,000 to 50,000 and passenger number increased to 72,000. Between 1936 and 1939, a new terminal was built, considered one of the finest examples of Nordic functionalism. The terminal was designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen, who was considered a pioneer among architects, in not only of architecture and construction. In the years of World War II, the Copenhagen airport was closed for operations except for periodic flights to destinations in Sweden, Germany. In the summer of 1941 the first hard-surface runway opened and it was 1,400 metres long and 65 metres wide. When World War II ended in May 1945, the Copenhagen airport was the most modern airport in Europe. On 1 August 1947, Scandinavian Airlines was founded, an important event for the Copenhagen Airport, traffic increased rapidly in the first years Scandinavian Airlines operated. On 26 January 1947, a KLM Douglas DC-3 Dakota crashed at the airport after stopping en route to Stockholm,22 people on board died, including the Swedish prince Gustav Adolf and the American opera singer Grace Moore
7.
Danish krone
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The krone is the official currency of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, introduced on 1 January 1875. Both the ISO code DKK and currency sign kr. are in use, the former precedes the value. The currency is referred to as the Danish crown in English. Historically, krone coins have been minted in Denmark since the 17th century, one krone is subdivided into 100 øre, the name øre possibly deriving from Latin aureus meaning gold coin. Altogether there are eleven denominations of the krone, with the smallest being the 50 øre coin, formerly there were more øre coins, but those were discontinued due to inflation. The krone is pegged to the euro via the ERM II, the oldest known Danish coin is a penny struck AD 825–840, but the earliest systematic minting produced the so-called korsmønter or cross coins minted by Harald Bluetooth in the late 10th century. Organised minting in Denmark was introduced on a larger scale by Canute the Great in the 1020s, for almost 1,000 years, Danish kings – with a few exceptions – have issued coins with their name, monogram and/or portrait. Taxes were sometimes imposed via the coinage, e. g. by the substitution of coins handed in by new coins handed out with a lower silver content. Danish coinage was based on the Carolingian silver standard. Periodically, the value of the minted coins was reduced. This was mainly done to generate income for the monarch and/or the state, as a result of the debasement, the public started to lose trust in the respective coins. Danish currency was overhauled several times in attempts to restore public trust in the coins, in 1619 a new currency was introduced in Denmark, the krone. One krone had the value of 1 1/2 Danish Rigsdaler Species accounting for 96 Kroneskillinger, later for 144 common Skillings, until the late 18th century, the krone was a denomination equal to 8 mark, a subunit of the Danish rigsdaler. A new krone was introduced as the currency of Denmark in January 1875 and it replaced the rigsdaler at a rate of 2 kroner =1 rigsdaler. This placed the krone on the standard at a rate of 2480 kroner =1 kilogram fine gold. The latter part of the 18th century and much of the 19th century saw expanding economic activity, consequently, banknotes were increasingly used instead of coins. The introduction of the new krone was a result of the Scandinavian Monetary Union, the parties to the union were the three Scandinavian countries, where the name was krone in Denmark and Norway and krona in Sweden, a word which in all three languages literally means crown. The three currencies were on the standard, with the krone/krona defined as 1⁄2480 of a kilogram of pure gold
8.
Rainforest
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The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earths tropical rainforests. Around 40% to 75% of all species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated there may be many millions of species of plants, insects. Tropical rainforests have been called the jewels of the Earth and the worlds largest pharmacy, the undergrowth in some areas of a rainforest can be restricted by poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees, the term jungle is also sometimes applied to tropical rainforests generally. Tropical rainforests are characterized by a warm and wet climate with no dry season. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C during all months of the year, average annual rainfall is no less than 168 cm and can exceed 1,000 cm although it typically lies between 175 cm and 200 cm. Many of the tropical forests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough. The broader category of tropical moist forests are located in the zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. Tropical forests have been called the Earths lungs, although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to the atmosphere through photosynthesis, Tropical forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in few regions around the world. Temperate rainforests are rainforests in temperate regions and they occur in North America, in Europe, in East Asia, in South America and also in Australia and New Zealand. A tropical rainforest typically has a number of layers, each with different plants, examples include the emergent, canopy, understorey and forest floor layers. They need to be able to withstand the hot temperatures and strong winds that occur above the canopy in some areas, eagles, butterflies, bats and certain monkeys inhabit this layer. The canopy layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically 30 metres to 45 metres tall, the densest areas of biodiversity are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species, epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches, and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to found in the emergent layer. A quarter of all species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy. Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, true exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using crossbows
9.
Dwarf crocodile
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The dwarf crocodile, also known commonly as the African dwarf crocodile, broad-snouted crocodile, or bony crocodile, is an African crocodile that is also the smallest extant crocodile species. Recent sampling has identified three distinct populations. Some feel that the findings should elevate the subspecies to species status. It was first described as Osteoblepharon osborni by Schmidt in 1919, however, Inger in a 1948 paper found the specimens wanting of characteristics that would justify a generic separation from Osteolaemus and referred the specimens to Osteolaemus osborni. Later, Wermuth and Mertens, reduced it to the current subspecies rank, recent evidence from the analysis of DNA indicates that three distinctly different populations of Osteolaemus may merit full species recognition. These would be O. tetrapis, O. osborni, the generic name, Osteolaemus, means bony throat, and is derived from the Ancient Greek όστεον and λαιμός. The genus was named as such due to the osteoderms found among the scales in the neck, the specific epithet, tetraspis, means four shields, and derives from the Ancient Greek τετρα and ασπίς, as the back of the neck has four large, shield-like scales. The subspecific name, osborni, is in honor of American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn, dwarf crocodiles attain a medium adult length of 1.5 m, though the maximum recorded length for this species is 1.9 m. Adult specimens typically weigh between 18 and 32 kg, with the largest females weighing up to 40 kg and the largest males weighing 80 kg, adults are a uniform black on their backs and sides with a yellowish underside with black patches. Juveniles have a lighter brown banding on body and tails and yellow patterns on the head, Osteolaemus has a blunt short snout, as long as it is wide, similar in fact to that of a dwarf caiman, probably a result of occupying a similar ecological niche. The dentition consists of four teeth,12 to 13 on the maxilla. O. t. tetraspis has lighter colours, a pointed, upturned snout. Dwarf crocodiles range across tropical regions of sub-Saharan West Africa. The subspecies O. t. tetraspis is found mainly in the reaches of this range. The dwarf crocodile is a slow, timid, and mainly nocturnal reptile, as with all crocodilians, it is an adept predator of vertebrates, large invertebrates such as crustaceans, and when presented with the opportunity, carrion. Foraging is mainly done in or near the water, though in areas with ground cover, they may expand their feeding pattern to land in extensive forays. The Congo Basin subspecies demonstrates seasonality in its dietary regimen, feeding on fish during the wet seasons floods, when faced with the scarceness of food during the dry season, individuals turn to crustaceans, and food intake is generally reduced. True to its solitary, nocturnal nature, a dwarf crocodile digs out a burrow in which to hide and rest during the day, an individual lacking the right conditions to do so usually lives between tree roots that hang over the ponds where it lives
10.
Pacu
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Pacu is a common name used to refer to several species of omnivorous South American freshwater serrasalmid fish that are related to the piranha. Pacu, unlike piranha, mainly feed on plant material and not flesh or scales, Additionally, the pacu can reach much larger sizes than piranha, at up to 1.08 m in total length and 40 kg in weight. The common name pacu is generally applied to fish classified under the following genera, among these, genera marked with a star* contain species where commonly used English names include the word pacu. Colossoma* Metynnis Mylesinus Mylossoma Ossubtus Piaractus* Tometes Utiaritichthys Each of these contain one or more separate species. For example, the fish found in pet stores known as the black pacu and red-bellied pacu typically belong to the species Colossoma macropomum and Piaractus brachypomus. A species popular among fish farmers is Piaractus mesopotamicus, also known as Paraná River pacu or small-scaled pacu, pacu is a term of Brazilian Indian/Guaraní origin. When the large fish of the Colossoma genus entered the trade in the U. S. and other countries. In the Brazilian Amazon, the term pacu is generally reserved to smaller and medium-sized fish in the Metynnis, Mylossoma, Colossoma macropomum are known as tambaqui, whereas Piaractus brachypomus is known as pirapitinga. In Peru, both of the species are called pacú and gamitana, Piaractus mesopotamicus of the Paraná-Paraguay basin is also called pacú in Paraguay and Argentina. Pacu, along with their cousins, are a characin fish, meaning a kind of tetra. The ongoing classification of fish is difficult and often contentious. DNA research sometimes confounds rather than clarifies species ranking, ultimately, classifications can be rather arbitrary. Pacu, along with piranha, are further classified into the Serrasalmidae family. Serrasalmidae means serrated salmon family and is a name which refers to the serrated keel running along the belly of these fish, however, dental characteristics and feeding habits further separate the two groups from each other. Pacus are native to tropical and subtropical South America and they inhabit rivers, lakes, floodplains and flooded forests in the Amazon, Orinoco, São Francisco and Río de la Plata Basins, as well as rivers in the Guianas. Here they form part of the highly diverse Neotropical fish fauna and their habitat preferences varies significantly depending on the exact species. Pacus have been introduced to the wild in places outside their native range. They are sometimes released to increase the fishing, but others are released by aquarists when they outgrow their aquarium
11.
Potamotrygonidae
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River stingrays are found in rivers in South America draining into the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean as far south as the River Plate in Argentina. Each river system has its own endemic stingrays, a single marine genus, Styracura, of the tropical West Atlantic and East Pacific are also part of Potamotrygonidae. They are generally brownish, greyish or black, often with a mottled or speckled pattern, have disc widths ranging from 25 to 200 centimetres, there are more than thirty species in five genera. They are native to northern, central and eastern South America, living in rivers that drain into the Caribbean, and into the Atlantic as far south as the Río de la Plata in Argentina. Generally, each species is native to a river basin, and the greatest species richness can be found in the Amazon, especially the Rio Negro, Tapajós. In 2016, two species formerly included in Himantura were found to belong in Potamotrygonidae, and moved to their own genus Styracura. These are S. schmardae from the tropical West Atlantic, including the Caribbean, and S. pacifica from the tropical East Pacific, including the Galápagos. River stingrays are almost circular in shape, and range in size from Plesiotrygon nana, which reaches 25 cm in width, to the chupare stingray. The latter is one of two marine species in this family. The largest freshwater species in family is the short-tailed river stingray. The upper surface is covered with denticles, most species are brownish or greyish and often have distinctive spotted or mottled patterns, but a few species are largely blackish with contrasting pale spots. They have a stinger on the tail, and are some of the most feared freshwater fishes in the Neotropical region because of the injuries they cause. However, they are not dangerous unless stepped on or otherwise threatened, River stingrays are the only family of batoids mostly restricted to fresh water habitats. While there are freshwater species in the family Dasyatidae, for example Himantura chaophraya. The taxonomy of the river stingrays is complex and undescribed species remain
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