A cownose ray arcs its body so that one whole wing is raised out of the tank. A jet of water squirts from an orifice in its belly that we don’t want to reflect on for too long, splashing near my son. We’re at the aquarium in London’s Waterloo and this may be the greatest thing that has ever happened to him. We watch the cownose as it rejoins its siblings, just above the larger southern stingrays patrolling the tank’s floor like dour, barb-tailed sentinels.
