Over the course of 4 days, we examined 2 thornback ray specimens (one whole specimen and the pectoral fins of another specimen for cross sections) and 1 whole Mustelus specimen (which due to morphological ambiguity was unable to be identified to species level). All specimens were provided frozen by Imperial College London, and were defrosted for 2 hours before initial dissection. Skeletonisation was performed on the ray by removing as much flesh from the skeleton as possible before allowing the specimen to soak in 40 water for 5 minutes, before removing more flesh. This process was repeated until sufficient  The specimens were refrigerated at 6°C in sealed plastic bags when not in use.