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"The Vanishing Stingray" is the 8th episode of the Season 6 of the PBS Kids show Wild Kratts. It is the 142nd episode of the series overall. It premiered on November 8, 2019.
Synopsis[]
Martin and Chris search for a creature with amazing hiding powers -- the stingray -- for a game of Creature Hide and Seek. Meanwhile, Zach overhears them talking about stingrays being incredible hiders, so he sends his Zachbots to attempt to steal the Stingray Power Discs, thinking he can fix his Invisibility Cloak with them.
Characters[]
Plot[]
The episode opens with Chris Kratt off the island of Grand Cayman in the Caribbean Sea while his brother Martin is at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The older brother is in the fish lab studying a group called the Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fishes. The skeletons of these kinds of fish are made of cartilage, a strong, bendable substance. We have cartilage too, in our earlobes and the tips of our noses. Chondrichthyes include fish like sharks, skates, and rays. While Martin is at the museum, Chris is out in the wild to find living cartilaginous fishes. The younger Kratt brother quickly comes across a group of stingrays. Stingrays have lots of cool abilities, from their graceful swimming style to a secret, venomous barb. The brothers then wonder what it would be like to have stingray powers and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
In the Caribbean Sea, the Kratt brothers are in the Tortuga's subaquatic lab viewing the sandy seabed that seems to be deceptively devoid of life. Needless to say, the brother have never felt more bored in their lives. But then, Martin suggests playing a game of creature hide and seek where he and Chris could activate creature powers to hide while while the gang tries to find them. However, Chris brings up that the sand flats are too wide and open to hide in until his brother mentions that there are creatures hidden beneath the sand. So the bros decide to find a particular sand hiding creature, but they'll have to find a way to recruit Aviva in their secret plan without Koki and Jimmy getting wind of it. Luckily, Chris already has that part figured out. He's going to activate Gecko Power with Virgin Islands dwarf sphaero. That way, the younger Kratt brother can approach Aviva quietly and unassumingly. With the Gecko Effect, Chris climbs his way upstairs to his friends who are busy doing a jigsaw puzzle. With the gang preoccupied, the green brother skitters up until he's next to Aviva's ear. She jumps in surprise, but Chris immediately tells her not to blow his cover and the rest of the gang quickly catch onto the inventor's unusual behavior.
Meanwhile, Zach Varmitech is on his jet spying on the Wild Kratts. He listens in on Chris whispering about a power suit based on a creature that's really good at hiding. But the identity of that creature is an enigma, much to Zach’s chagrin.
While Martin prepares to dive, Chris leads Aviva down below to her invention station all while keeping it a secret from Koki and Jimmy. In the subaquatic lab, the two friends spot Martin searching for the creature hiding in the seabed. The key thing to look for is a pair of eyes sticking out of the sand. And the older Kratt brother finds them, he reveals the creature to Chris and Aviva: the southern stingray.
Animals[]
Animation[]
Note: Featured animals are in bold.
- Southern Stingray: Smiley
- Eyed Flounder (called flounder)
- Bottlenose Dolphin (called dolphin): Click, Whistle
- Sand Perch
- Virgin Islands Dwarf Sphaero (called dwarf gecko)
Computer Images[]
- Salmon Shark
- Great Hammerhead (silhouette)
- Giant Oceanic Manta Ray (silhouette)
- Tiger Shark (silhouette)
- Goblin Shark (silhouette)
Mentioned[]
Note: Mentioned animals are linked to Wikipedia.
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Requiem shark (called shark)
- Bluespotted ribbontail ray (called spotted stingray)
- Bar jack
- Atlantic blue tang
- Yellowtail snapper
- Rainbow parrotfish (called parrotfish)
- Great barracuda (called barracuda)
Trivia[]
- This is their first ray adventure.
- This is the third adventure with cartilaginous fish, the first two being "Stuck on Sharks" and "Hammerheads".
- This is the first Season 6 episode with a Creature Power Suit malfunction.
- It is revealed that Zach's Invisibility Cloak won't work when it comes into contact with water.
- This is the final episode of Wild Kratts in 2019 as well as the final episode of the 2010s decade.
- Although the eyed flounder has both eyes on the left side of its head, the one in this episode only has eyes on the right side.
- The crew is shown to like solving jigsaw puzzles.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Sharks and rays are all part of the class Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fish. They both have skeletons made of cartilage, and they both have electroreception.
- Stingrays are an ancient species. They existed during the time of the dinosaurs and still survive today.
- There are 630 different species of ray.
- Stingrays have incredible hiding abilities, able to flip sand on top of them, so they can hide from predators. They even have periscope eyes that let them see above the sand.
- Stingrays have a large, venomous barb that they can whip animals like sharks or curious dolphins.
- A stingray defending itself from young dolphins.